The Wager
by Ambrel
Summary: Finn was complaining. Again. Apparently he was bored… and the trip had only just started! Aerrow forced himself to keep his bleary gaze on the sniper as attentively as he could. **COMPLETE! Finally!**
1. Prologue The Wager

"Uaagh!"

Aerrow raised his head and stared curiously at the hallway that led away from the bridge. The noise that echoed down the passageway was soon followed by Finn. He was walking in an exaggeratedly dejected manner, arms splayed out at his sides and feet thumping the deck with each over-emphasized step. His eyes were rolled up to the ceiling, all squinty beneath a brow that was crinkled and distorted in his effort to affect an expression of agonizing boredom. Aerrow raised one red eyebrow in an almost indulgent fashion as Finn slumped his way to the table at which the sky knight sat.

Finn let his upper body collapse onto the surface of the table at the same time that he flopped into the bench. He stayed there a moment while Aerrow looked on in slight confusion. Across the room, Stork rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath that no one could really hear.

When he judged that he had sat still long enough to get across the full extent of his boredom, the sharpshooter let his head roll to the side to be cushioned on his bicep. His eyes were wide when he stared up at his leader. "Man… I'm sooooo boooored."

Aerrow stared for a moment. Then he shrugged and went back to the book he had been reading before Finn had interrupted. "So… go listen to your radio or something."

"I already did that. For four hours!"

"Okay…" Aerrow mumbled, his attention already caught by the words on the page. "So… play your guitar? Quietly.." he added under his breath.

"Nah. Piper took the strings and I cant find them."

"Don't know what to tell you. Its only been a couple days since we left Atmosia… you do know we wont reach our next destination for a week or three, right?"

"Uaaaaaaagh….!"

Finn's inarticulate complaint failed to register on Aerrow's face, so he tried a different tack.

"What'cha readin'?

"Tactical observations on the Cyclonian skirmish parties." Aerrow replied.

"Booooring."

"Eh.. not really. Piper recommended it. Maybe she could find something for you to do too. She has a pretty good library."

Finn wrinkled his nose at that. "Pass." He continued to watch Aerrow, who gave no indication that he even noticed his friend's attempt to bore holes into his head with his eyes alone.

Finn sighed and finally gave up. He let his eyes rove over the bridge.

He was so bored! How could the rest of them be so serene in this dull place? Junko was helping Piper in the lab-he rolled his eyes, who would have seen that coming?-and Stork was only fun when something dangerous was happening. And even then, only for the laughs that such situations provided.

The lack of activity was liable to do him in. There was nothing-NOTHING-going on. He just couldn't understand the appeal of reading all day or staring at glowing rocks. Sometimes it seemed like he was the only person in the whole squadron who had a single clue as to how to have a good time. He gave another inarticulate groan, then, "I'm going for a ride."

He started to melodramatically drag himself out of his chair when Aerrow's voice stopped him. "You know we have to conserve fuel, Finn."

He hadn't even looked up from the book this time!

Finn dropped back into the chair.

For the next ten minutes, he fidgeted and grumbled low in his throat, every now and then scowling at Aerrow. He was the leader! He should take care of his team. And in Finn's opinion, that meant keeping him from the creeping encroachment of utter boredom.

After a while, Aerrow, glanced up at his friend. With a sigh, he carefully marked his page and set the book down on the table before leaning back and stretching his arms over his head. He groaned in satisfaction as several vertebrae snapped and popped into place. He settled back down and gave Finn his attention. "So, no radio and no guitar."

Finn nodded morosely.

"Read a book?"

"Yuck."

"Chores?"

"Already done."

"Clean your skimmer?"

"I haven't even ridden it in three days."

"Hmm… I dunno what to tell you." Aerrow sat back with a half-smile. "I'm sure you can think of something to entertain yourself. Just make sure its not too destructive."

"Hey, I'm not destruct-hey! I have an idea!"

Aerrow was reaching for his book again. "Good… but remember, I'm not letting you anywhere near the fire extinguishers again. Last time…" he shuddered at the memory of the joyful abandon that Finn had displayed that day… white foam covered every available surface… but then again, it _had_ been almost worth it for the look on Stork and Piper's face when they saw the Wallop-turned-snowman that was Junko, complete with one of Piper's scarves around his neck and Stork's anti-mind worm helmet on his head. Aerrow bit back a snicker at the memory and started to flip through the book back to his page. Back to business.

Or, at least, that is what he would have done if Finn hadn't grabbed his arm. "Dude, I have the best idea. And you are going to love this!"

"But-hey!" With that, Aerrow found himself hauled out of his chair in the wake of the excitable sniper.

The book clattered to the floor with a thump. Stork glanced up from the ship's controls, nervously rubbing a green thumb over the sight gauges. "This cant be good.."

OOO

Finn's feet barely hit the deck as he dragged his surprised friend down the corridor until they made it to the kitchen, where he looked around quickly to make sure that no one was around. Then he shoved Aerrow inside, stepped into the room, and slammed the door shut behind them both. He turned and Aerrow's stomach sank. He knew that look that Finn had on his face… it was the one that he always wore before he either did or caused something really strange.

"Uh… Finn? What are you doing and why did you drag me to the kitchen?"

"Dude… I have this great idea, but you have to do it too."

"That… doesn't sound good."

Finn slapped Aerrow on the shoulder. "Its nothing too bad!"

"Uhh… so why are we in the kitchen again?"

"I don't want anyone to hear my idea. It has to be a secret."

"Okay… now I'm confused. What's going on?"

"I'll tell you.. but first you have to promise you'll do it."

"Finn… I wasn't born yesterday. I wont commit to anything unless you tell me what it is first."

"Just a little contest, Aerrow. That's all."

At those words, Aerrow perked up a little in interest, despite himself. "Okay… but you have to tell me what it is."

"What… you chicken, Aerrow? Cant just take a chance and say you'll do it first?"

"Do you seriously expect me to knowingly go along with one of your schemes without some forewarning?"

"Chicken." Finn began doing a rather credible impression of the bird in question.

Aerrow groaned. This was so wrong. "Finn…"

Finn just continued his antics, much to Aerrow's annoyance. "Finn… FINN!"

The blonde stopped his impression long enough to grin at Aerrow. "I'll stop if you say you'll do it."

"What if I say no?"

"Then I'll know for sure that there's one thing that you'd never be able to beat me in doing. And you know what? You wouldn't even know what it was. Because you wouldn't have even tried. And that would bother you forever and ever."

Aerrow narrowed his eyes. _Great. Not only does he know exactly how to pique my interest… he's not going to stop bugging me until I say yes. _Aerrow rubbed his chin, thinking furiously. _Lets weigh the pros and cons… if we have a friendly contest, then it would be easy to keep him out of trouble… and I would have something to do too. And it couldn't be THAT bad, right? Besides, what harm could he cause out here in the middle of no-where? And I AM really curious now…_

He realized that Finn was watching him with that knowing expression on his face. Aerrow frowned. He held up one finger and opened his mouth to say something, but paused instead, considering.

Finn knew he had him. "You know you want to, Aerrow. Come on, you're going to be just as bored as me, no matter how many of Piper's books you read. Three weeks of flying with no pit stops?"

It took a minute for his answer to come, but when it did, Finn crowed with delight. "Fine… fine. But I reserve the right to back out of things if its too disruptive."

"Oh, you wont back out, believe me."

"Right… so tell me what this contest is."

Finn's grin was almost infectious but Aerrow kept himself aloof. They sat down at the kitchen table. "Okay, first thing's first. This contest is going to definitely take a couple of days. So we have to keep journals. Got that?"

"Okay… sounds weird, but why not?"

"And we cant compare notes until its all over, got that?"

"Can you just tell me what we're doing?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting to that. And remember, you have GOT to keep this all under wraps. Only you and I are allowed to know about the wager. Oh, man, this is going to be so funny."

"Finn…" Aerrow said warningly, "Get on with it. I have some things I need to take care of."

"Okay. Remember, you promised to do this, so no backing out now."

"Finn.."

"Okay. So here's the deal." His smile got even wider, if that was possible. "The first person to get a kiss from Piper wins."

"…_What?" _Aerrow shot up out of his chair in pure reflex.

"Dude, come on. Its not that big a deal. Its just a game."

"No it isn't! Piper's a teammate, Finn, not some….ugh!"

"Aerrow, what's the problem? Its not like she'd be forced to do anything. Its just a way to pass the time for a while."

"No way, Finn. I cant do that."

"What, you afraid of a girl?"

"No! I just…. Damnit, its not right." Aerrow's face flamed.

"Chicken."

"Finn." Aerrow growled. "Any contest but something like that. Its not right to play with people like that."

"Dude, chill. I already said that no ones forcing anyone to do anything, right? I guess…" He had a sudden flash of inspiration, "If you wont do it, then I'll have to either get Junko to try or I'll do it on my own. Just think… I'll beat you because you wont even try."

Aerrow had been on his way out the door when that last comment hit his ears. "What?"

Finn shrugged nonchalantly. "Hey, winning by default works for me… but I'll still have to fulfill the conditions of the wager, just for my self respect."

_I'm going to regret this…_Aerrow forced himself to turn around. "You're an ass."

Finn just smiled up at him. "So… you're gonna do it?"

"Ass."

OOO

Okay. First off, I lied. I was going to wait a few days before posting again, but this fic kinda clawed its way out of my brain and demanded to be put to paper. So here it is.

Also, I know this situation is FAR out there. I'm keeping the characters as close to their in character personas as much as possible, but I have a feeling this one is going to be hard. Worth it, but hard.

Also, I'm going to do something new. If you go into my profile, there will be a poll. Each day, when I go to write the next chapter, I shall refer to this poll.

That's right. You, the readers, will have an affect on how this one goes, at least for the time being. As long as I can keep it going that way, I shall. So vote, if you want things to go a certain way. And if no one votes, I shall be sad, but I will continue writing.

At the end of each chapter I will post the results of the poll that helped form that chapter.

Remember, I tend to update at least once every 24 hours.

Oh, and the following chapters will be done in POV style.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this method of fanfic works!


	2. The Game is Afoot

**Aerrow**

I let the door to my room slam shut, then leaned against it. I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

How did I get myself into this?

Why couldn't I just tell him no?

I just cant say no to a dare. That small part of me that got such a thrill from besting the Dark Ace, that loved pushing my skimmer past its actual specs… that's what made me do it.

I mean, I cant lose. Not to _Finn_, of all people. I could out-fly, out-fight, and out-do him in just about anything. Well, anything but aim, that is. So I had to say yes. Its not like I really wanted to, after all. I mean, I think of Piper as a really great friend. And even if she's pretty… she doesn't deserve this, does she?

I guess I sorta have a problem with the whole thing. But if I hadn't said yes, Finn was going to mess with her head anyway, right? And besides, Piper kissing Finn?

How the hell would that work?

Anyway, Piper's a girl, right? Girls are a lot more touchy-feely than guys, so it shouldn't be too hard. Finn never DID specify anything about the kiss, just that it had to BE a kiss. So if nothing else, maybe she's the type to kiss someone on the cheek or the forehead or something like that. That's something girls do sometimes, right?

I frowned. This was going to suck.

"Finn…" I said to my empty room, "You are such an ass."

OOO

We were all doing chores. Sweeping up, cleaning our gear, polishing the brass, that sort of thing. Finn kept giving me suggestive looks whenever we passed by each other in the halls, and to my chagrin, my face flared with blood every time. I kept trying to keep the thought in mind that Piper was not one to be forced into doing something that she had no intention of doing… so it wasn't like it was anything bad, right? I mean, I pretty much figured that Finn getting Piper to give him a kiss was pretty much bust. So really, I didn't even have to try, right?

I know Finn is hardly one to take no for an answer, but he would never force her to do anything. So if I just lay low and ignored the whole bet, maybe he'd forget about it.

Yeah, right. And Dark Ace is my uncle. Right.

I groaned, picking up one of the crates of supplies that I was in the process of moving from one end of the ship to the other.

"You okay, Aerrow?"

Piper's voice nearly made me leap out of my skin. She was behind me and I hadn't heard her footsteps when she approached. "Uhh…yeah. Fine. All good."

I hefted the crate to my shoulder and started walking as quickly as I could down the corridor. This time I heard the pitter patter of her footsteps behind me as she kept pace with me. "Oh, good. For a minute there I thought you were going to be sick or something from that noise you made. By the way, what are you doing when you're done with those supplies?"

"Uh," I squeaked, wracking my mind for any excuse not to look her in the face and let her see how red I was. I was pretty sure that she could see my ears flaming, but then again, maybe they were camouflaged in my hair… "I-uh, that is… I-"

"'Cause I was wondering if you'd be able to help me clean up the lab. I cant move the table by myself and its getting pretty dusty back there."

"Oh… uh… is Junko busy?"

"I think he's straightening out the hangar. If its too much trouble, I-"

"I'll help you out, Piper." Came Finn's voice, unexpectedly.

"You will, Finn?" Piper asked, "That's a first…"

I faltered in my steps and I heard Piper quickly backtrack before she ran straight into my back.

"Yeah," replied Finn, "I just finished up my chores, so I have a little extra time. What do you need me to do?"

Oh, no. He wasn't going to pull something like that. My efforts to avoid the bet aside, he wasn't going to just waltz in and get a chance over on me like that. After all, she had come to me for help. It was my responsibility to fulfill her request, since it was in my power to do so, right?

I spun around, unceremoniously dumping the heavy crate into Finn's arms as I passed, not even sparing a glance as I stormed by. I snagged Piper's arm on my way. "Lets go move this table."

"Uh-okay…" she said, allowing herself to be towed. I could hear Finn in the hallway behind me, snorting with a laugh that he barely managed to turn into a fake sounding cough at the last minute.

"Ass…" I muttered beneath my breath.

Once we had reached the lab, Piper detached my grip on her arm and looked at me quizzically. "What," she began, "was all that about?"

I shrugged and ducked my head in an attempt to hide my consternation. "Nothing."

She stared at me for another few moments, then shrugged. "Whatever." She pointed at a large table set against the wall with the window. "I need help moving that. Its easy enough to clean around, but getting behind it is a pain."

I nodded shortly, and moved into position to move the heavy furniture. It really was heavy, too. It took a good deal of my strength just to budge it, and Piper was over there straining against the weight too. We eventually got the thing moved and Piper straightened with a satisfied smile. "Thanks a lot, Aerrow. I don't think I could have done it without help. Since you helped me move it out, I'll get Finn or Junko to help me put it back, okay? I don't want to harangue you all day."

"No," I said, perhaps a little too quickly, judging from the queer look she gave me. "Just come get me again. Its no big deal. I'm nearly done with all of my work anyhow."

"Great. In that case, how would you feel about doing some hand to hand training later on today? I'm in need of a good work out."

I wanted to say no. I didn't want Finn to think I was really taking this wager seriously. I mean, he was probably just having a few laughs at my expense. He's like that sometimes. As much as he acts like a complete dork a lot of the time, he really does have a clever streak that most of us never give him credit for. I'm pretty sure that he just wanted to stick me into an uncomfortable situation so that he could watch me squirm.

He can be a little evil like that sometimes.

Although I cant recall anything he's ever done that was quite to this scale before. And I knew… I just _knew_ that he would be waiting for me to slip up and leave Piper alone so that he could have a chance at-

-Wait. What was I saying?

Piper isn't the type to do anything she doesn't want to do.

So what am I really worried about?

Its not like she'd actually….

…I mean…

Nah. No way.

But still…

"Sure!" I said suddenly, startling Piper, who had taken to peering at me in curiosity. I guess I had been staring at her while having my little internal monologue.

I raised one hand to the back of my head, scratching my scalp self consciously. "I'll just… uh, just let me know when you need help with that table again."

"Thanks Aerrow!" Piper called out after me as I left. I could hear the slight confusion in her voice, but she didn't say much else.

The door closed behind me and I sighed, eyes closed tightly. When I opened them up once more, Finn was smirking at me, leaning on the opposite wall. He tilted his head up in a mock salute. "So," he drawled, "Piper's all taken care of?"

"Its all good." I replied, narrowing my eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," he grinned innocently. "Just making sure everything's under control."

He turned and strolled down the corridor, whistling an off-key tune all the while. I watched him go, confusion warring with the urge to throw something at Finn's giant blonde ego.

He was behaving like he wasn't even worried about me blocking his access to Piper a moment ago! What made him so damn confident? I mean, its not like he and Piper were ever anything more than antagonistic friends. He didn't have a chance.

Did he? I mean… sure, Finn's usually overconfident to a fault, but this wasn't anything like his normal antics. Speaking of his normal tricks, I don't usually get roped into those either. I bet that he was just reveling in getting me in on one of his games for once…

But still… he was acting way too cool for his own good. He couldn't win this bet. I doubt he'd even have a chance, but…

Dammit. There's no way. Finn's going to have to eat his words.

I'm winning this thing.

OOO

It was only a few hours later when Piper caught up to me for help with her furniture moving and a training session, but by that time I had managed to talk myself into a frenzy. I was a little wired and on edge because of that, and I seized upon the chance to relieve some of my excess energy. I was just glad that Piper was so good at hand to hand; there was no reason for me to hold back at all.

Each blow I tried to land usually hit upon thin air. Piper was always one of the quickest fighters, out of all of us, but to my credit I was making her work for it. The physical activity allowed me to take my mind off of the ultimate goal of the stupid bet.

I was so used to hitting nothing as we sparred, that when I did manage to land a kick, it took me completely by surprise. Piper went flying from the force of my attack, flying backwards and landing on the floor with a breathless huff. I stared at her, horrified. Normally, when we fight we all watch our punches, pulling if necessary, but I had let go with the full force of my frustration.

I darted over to her, slipping on the deck. It was slick with the sweat from both of us. I knelt down beside her. "Piper! Are you okay?"

She was sucking in deep breaths in an uncoordinated manner, deep huffing gasps escaping her lungs. I hovered over her for a moment before I reached down and helped her to sit up. "Hey, I'm sorry Piper. You okay?"

My only reply was a sharp glance and more heaving gasps. I noticed that she was favoring her left side and I winced. I must have gotten her pretty good.

There was nothing much I could do until her lungs decided to calm down on their own. I stayed with her, glancing around guiltily and being quite thankful that Finn and the others were occupied elsewhere on the ship. It was just me and Piper in the middle of that empty room.

Suddenly, the fact that we _were_ alone ballooned into my mind, causing heat to flood my features again. I was glad that she was a little too preoccupied with forcing air into her body to look at me, because I was having trouble keeping my blush under control.

Why? I had no reason to be embarrassed. No reason to really feel as self conscious as I did at that very moment.

This really isn't fair, you know. I'm a fairly confident guy. I'm not supposed to blush this much, but it seemed like all day, that was what I was doing. This stupid bet… for what had to be the hundredth time that day, I admonished myself for actually falling for Finn's mind game.

Though it took a while, Piper eventually grew quieter. She pressed a hand gingerly to her side and looked up at me. "Ow." She said plaintively.

I winced again. "Sorry…"

"Is…ah…no problem." She replied, holding up an arm for a hand up. I complied, grasping her arm and wrapping my free arm around her back to steady her as she stood. "Just… hazard of.. the job."

I frowned. "I didn't mean to hit you like that, you know."

"I know. Its…ouch.. okay."

I sighed. "Let me make it up to you?"

She raised her eyebrows at my request. "How do you intend on that?"

"I dunno…"

She laughed, though her voice had a painful hitch. "Its okay, Aerrow. I'll just have to beat on Finn next time. He's not a good as you are."

I almost objected to that, but she had already commented on how odd I was acting lately. I had to let it slide. I mean, I cant keep Finn away from her all the time without seeming really… weird. Besides, I felt a rush of satisfaction when she compared my fighting skills favorably to Finn's…

…Its not like she'd kiss him anyway.

Dammit.

I shook myself out of those thoughts and smiled down at her. "Yeah, well, you know how Finn loves to practice." I rolled my eyes in lighthearted emphasis. "Here, why don't I help you to your room? You should probably rest for a little bit. I didn't hurt anything too badly, did I?"

"No, I'm pretty much in one piece. I do think it might be a good idea to take a rest though. I can get some reading in, too. By the way, did you like that book I gave you?"

"Definitely. It had a lot of pertinent info on their tactics…"

We left the training room, Piper leaning slightly on my arm, Our banter continued up until we made it to her quarters. I helped her to her bed, stopping just short of tucking her in. I looked around until I found the book I knew she had been reading and I took it to her. "Is there anything else you need right now?"

She looked at me with an odd expression. "No.. I should be alright. Are… are you okay?"

"Of course! Why do you ask?"

She shook her head slowly. "No reason…"

I stepped out of the room and made my way quickly down the hall. And sure enough, since he'd been all but stalking me since this morning, I ran into Finn.

His smug smile was starting to get on my nerves, and this was only the first day.

He glanced around. There was no one near us at the moment. He leaned in close enough to whisper to me conspiratorially. "Awesome move, Aerrow. Immobilize and go in for the kill?"

I grimaced. "Training accident."

He rocked back on his heels and quirked his grin a little wider. "Uh-hmmm. I see."

I opened my mouth to say something, but looking at his obvious amusement at my expense, I thought better of it. Didn't want to give him any more satisfaction. I made to walk past him.

"Hey Aerrow," he called after me.

"What?" I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him.

Stupid smug smile. Stupid blonde ego.

"Don't forget to write in your journal. That's part of the deal."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Whatever."

My teeth were grinding each other to powder the whole way back to my room. I threw myself down at my desk, my whole being a morass of frustration and competitive urges. My fatal flaw… I couldn't back down from a challenge. A legitimate challenge to my abilities. And somehow, though I still cant understand how, this stupid contest qualified as a challenge to my prowess.

I dug out a pen and a blank notebook and glared at it for about ten minutes.

My thoughts kept going back to that infuriatingly cool and confident smile plastered over Finn's face. I growled.

"Ass."

OOO

Okay. That went way off to the side of what I was aiming for. But either way, you sorta get the emotional and mental battle that Aerrow is going through-he cant back down from a challenge, but he doesn't want his best friend to get caught in the crossfire of said contest either. And there's the unacknowledged emotional tension on his part that I tried to get across… not sure if that was obvious.

Okay, since I promised I would post the poll results, here they are:

Aerrow - 40 percent

Piper - 33 percent

Finn - 13 percent

Stork - 13 percent

Junko - 0 percent

Radarr - 0 percent

And thus, the next poll begins. Each choice is a different character's POV, by the way… but this makes it even more blind than last chapter's poll! Keep an eye out, this is becoming fun!


	3. Unexpected Observations

**Stork**

"Uh…eep!"

I heard a chattering burble in response to my outburst. As my eyes were tightly shut, I could feel, but not see the tiny paws of the animal that crawled up my spine and perched on my shoulder. I stood stock still for a moment, trying to regain my normal heartbeat…

It didn't work too well. The chattery voice sounded again, this time close to my right ear. I cracked one eye and stared dolefully at the owner of the high pitched chitter.

Radarr bobbed his head down and peered right back at me.

"Shoo!" I said, accompanying the command with several jerky motions intended to indicate my desire for him to NOT be on my shoulder. It was all to no avail, though. The little furry creature just shifted his weight with every move I made and continued to stare at me. He chattered again and poked me in the chest impatiently.

"What do you want?" I forced out, my voice high with stress. I hated being touched. Hated it. And here, Radarr was _sitting _on me.

Radarr's blue head bobbed up and down in my vision again. He chirped and somehow managed to tug on my collar in the direction of the living quarters of the ship. I let my eyes open fully and straightened up somewhat. I grimaced at him, willing him to get off of me but knowing that he wouldn't. Not until he achieved whatever goal he had in mind when he jumped up on me in the first place.

I unwillingly let my grip on the steering column loosen, keeping an eye on Radarr all the while. It wasn't that I didn't trust the little… thing, because I did. But he was sitting on me…

I don't like it when people touch me, much less when they do it without provocation and for a prolonged period of time.

Radarr shifted ever so slightly on my shoulder in accordance with my movements as I coached myself away from the controls. It was always a fight to leave the helm, really. Its my safe spot. It's the perfect place, with the wide open windows and the relative expanse of empty space around me. I can see anything coming towards me in enough time, theoretically speaking, to either avoid it or come up with a suitable countermeasure against it. The more opportunity you had to prepare, the higher your chances of survival, I always say.

Well… no, I don't always say that. In fact, I pretty much expect to face a grisly death which each new day that passes… but it hasn't happened yet. I am confident, though, that one day it will come to pass just as I predict.

There was no real way to fight Radarr's insistence. If I ignored him, he would never go away, and if I did anything to 'convince' him to leave, I would probably have an irate Aerrow on my hands.

It takes a lot to upset Aerrow, but messing with Radarr would definitely do it. The look on Aerrow's face when Finn had decided to put Radarr to use dusting in the air vents…

Well, lets just say that Radarr wasn't too happy with being a walking dust bunny. And Aerrow wasn't too happy with Finn either…

I shuddered.

I took a step toward the living area, reluctantly. "I wish you'd gone after Finn or Junko, you know. I'll bet you have some sort of thing in your fur that will make my rash spread.." I scratched at my arm. The very thought made me… itchy.

Radarr squeaked and bounced on my shoulder like some excitable primate and I gritted my teeth. "After I go look at… whatever it is you want me to see… You are definitely leaving me be for the rest of the day…"

As we made our way down the hall, Radarr grew more and more edgy and excited. At one point, he scurried down my arm and landed on the ground with a muted thump of his paws, checking over his shoulder to make sure that I was still following.

I was, of course. Even though I was slowly becoming more and more convinced that he was suffering from some sort of mind affecting disease.

The door at which he stopped was standing wide open. Radarr paused right before it, shifting nervously on his feet. He stared up at me and motioned for quiet before he pointed anxiously into the room. Padding closer, I could hear voices.

"...is totally stupid. You've had a laugh, now lets just stop the game, okay?"

That was Aerrow. And who was he talking to-

"What, one day into it and you cant take it anymore?"

Finn.

I looked down at Radarr with a wary expression. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but he hissed and waved his paws at me in a gesture meant to tell me to keep my silence.

"Okay, you know its not that, Finn. I really cant see why you want to continue with this. Its not like you're going to be able to win the bet anyhow."

"Oh, and you think you will?"

A pause. Against my better judgment, my ears perked up to catch the answer. What was this? A bet between Aerrow and Finn?

What could they possibly be betting on?

And how could Aerrow, of all people, be drawn into gambling? That didn't seem anything like our leader. Suspicious…

"I think I'd have a better chance at it than you."

And what could it be that made Aerrow sound so defensive about it?

"Dude. That's a blow to my pride right there. Did you make ANY progress yesterday? I mean, come on. I stayed out of your way almost the whole time. I virtually handed you the chance to win, hands down!"

I frowned. I hadn't heard of any bet.

Its not like Finn could be a part of something and not blather on about it to the entire crew. It was just his nature to do that. So…

So… there was something wrong here.

Something wrong with Aerrow and Finn. Because I know my teammates. I probably know them better than they know themselves. I have to. If I didn't, then it would be a lax in my security net. I had to know if something went awry. If they started acting out of their characters. So I could take the necessary precautions.

My mind wandered back to the crates of emergency supplies I kept in the supply closet. Did I have the things I needed for a mental parasite infestation?

"No way! I saw you just about every time I turned around yesterday! I have never seen you that much on a cleaning day in the history of the Storm Hawks! Finn, you know that this is just a stupid wager. Lets just drop it, okay?"

"You might want to bow out, but I'm all set on the game, man. Just because you don't think you can do it…" Finn let the comment hang in the air. I heard his footsteps approaching and Radarr tensed in his spot. "You do know that in order for me to be able to look myself in the mirror, I'll still have to fulfill the conditions…"

"What if I just tell her about it? What then?" Aerrow's words were sharp and made Finn's foot falls pause.

Her?

Piper? What does she have to do with mind worms?

"Then you'll have to explain how you got involved in something like this. Wont that be fun? I don't think you'd even have a chance to beg forgiveness. She would be pretty pissed… At least I have an excuse-people expect me to do stuff like this. You, on the other hand…"

I heard a long suffering sigh. "Fine. Fine, Finn. I'll keep going as long as you let everything drop once there's a conclusion to this fiasco. And I am definitely not going easy on you in the training room anymore."

"Aw, Aerrow needs an outlet for frustration?"

"Finn.." Aerrow's voice came across warningly. I cringed backwards in reflex and started walking back the way I had come. Radarr, evidently still worried about his master, followed me and chirped up at me from the floor.

I peered down at him. "What was all that about?"

He stared up at me with wide, unknowing eyes.

OOO

The rest of the day seemed fairly uneventful. Outside of the strange conversation I overheard, Aerrow and Finn didn't act too out of the ordinary… though once my attention had been called to it, I noticed small details that were out of place. Aerrow couldn't seem to look at Piper in the eyes, and Finn, while still annoying, was even more of a pest than normal. He seemed to be trying to covertly goad Aerrow whenever Piper wasn't around, but being Finn, he failed miserably at anything that resembled subtlety. I was actually surprised I hadn't noticed anything sooner…

But then again, yesterday had been chore day. I hadn't seen much of the others since I was spending my time tweaking the defense systems and rewiring the refrigerator.

What? It was giving off a buzz. The subtle waves emitted from a malfunctioning fridge have the possibility to cause cancer. I read about it somewhere.

But now that I looked I saw that there was definitely something fishy going on. And it was bad enough that it affected our leader and the sharp shooter… but apparently, whatever it was that had them in their thrall was also after Piper. Piper, who had the keenest mind of them all. If she fell prey to some mental hijacking…

We were doomed.

I couldn't see how I could safely call attention to the insidious plot that I was sure was developing even as I stood there. If I called it out, whatever controlled the two would probably go in for the kill. The only way to save Piper and thus, the rest of the ship and the crew, was to get her alone so that I could warn her of the danger. If she wasn't already infected by whatever it was….

But there was one hope for the two already carrying the parasite. Aerrow had seemed to be rebelling against whatever it was that he was doing. Perhaps… it would be possible to same them. Perhaps.

Finn, judging from the snippet I had heard from him, had completely lost his will to the invaders. I guess he was lost…

Not a bad loss, I suppose. But still, I guess I would have to try to see him through intact. It would be hard to find someone else who was so good with a bow.

I waitedfor the rest of the night, waiting for the chance to get Piper alone. She had to learn of this before it was too late.

The hands with which I gripped the steering mechanism trembled at the enormity of the situation, as I saw it. A slow, silent invasion. An enemy that we couldn't detect, nor could I speak out against vocally. Radarr looked up at me dejectedly from where he settled at my feet. That was proof enough for me that something was definitely wrong. Radarr would almost always be attached to Aerrow no matter what, and here he was being upset with me. And he had come to me for help with his friend.

"We'll fix them," I mumbled awkwardly to the furry blue lump on the deck. "It cant be permanent…"

OOO

My chance came somewhat later that night. Piper was hanging some maps and charts on the holder near my usual spot and the others were elsewhere… I didn't know where, but I knew they were not on the bridge. I glanced over at her and cleared my throat nervously. Even though I had lived with them for years, beginning conversations remained one of my biggest problems. Even with people I had known for a long time…

"Uh… um."

"Hmm? What's up Stork?"

"Uh… Piper? Have you noticed… anyone acting…strange?"

She blinked, then regarded me in surprise. "Not really. Unless you count the fact that Finn offered to help me clean yesterday. Why?"

"I just… ah.. well, I'm worried about… Aerrow. And Finn."

"Why?" She went back to hanging maps.

"I think they're infested with a mind plague."

I got a tinkling of a laugh out of that. I cringed. I wasn't trying to make her laugh. This was serious! "Really, Stork. I haven't even noticed anything weird. How could they get a mind plague out here in the middle of no where?"

"Airborne germs. Interdimensional mind controlling demons. Shapeshifters. Sorcery. Hypnosis crystals."

"Right."

I shifted uncomfortably as she just continued on with what she was doing. "I think they're after you, Piper."

"Why would they be after me?" I could tell she was just humoring me, but at least she wasn't just blowing me off.

"You're the strategist. Why wouldn't they want you? And even if it isn't some intelligent mind behind the control, we're all in danger of infection anyway. We need to take precautions."

She finished up her maps and straightened, smiling at me and resting a palm on my shoulder. "Stork, you worry too much. Its all fine. No one it out to get me or do anything to me. And no one is out to get you either. But if it makes you feel better, I'll tell you if anything strange happens, okay?"

I frowned, but nodded. That was probably the best I would get out of her.

I had to make her see the danger though. If two of our number had already succumbed to mind worms or a parasitic plague, it was only a matter of time until the rest of us fell to it too. And though I might be able to think of many demises and diseases far worse than losing ones mind, it wasn't something I particularly wanted to happen to me or anyone I know. I mean, there was a chance that we could save them, but only if we took precautions ourselves.

I could make her see.

I just needed proof.

OOO

Okay. That was my first time writing Stork. I get the feeling that this came off as a little wooden and not quite as in character as it could have been, but basically I took the extreme point of Stork's personality and now he thinks that there is a covert invasion of some mind controlling thing… I think its kinda funny.

I know these updates are kinda short. I'm only averaging about 2500 words lately... :(

Anyhow. Moving on.

As for the poll. The results from the past poll are as follows:

"Uh…eep!" (Stork) – 44 percent

Crash! (Junko) – 22 percent

Splat! (Finn) – 11 percent

Rustle…rustle (Aerrow) 11 percent

Clang! (Radarr) 11 percent

Thump (Piper) – 0 percent

The next poll shall be… First lines. Look in my profile for the poll and vote on what the first line of the next chapter shall be. Each character is paired with a line, but you wont know which until I update again! Bwahaha.

By the way, I have extra time tomorrow. So there might be a possibility of two updates.

Thanks for reading this far!


	4. Secret Recon

**Stork**

There was no way this was going to work.

I mean, I started getting hives just thinking about it. What if someone caught me? How would I explain things then? What would the others say if they could see what I was trying to do?

And what about Aerrow and Finn? Their minds overrun by some sort of brain fungus or something… they were helpless to even see the light of reason that I was trying to bestow. It was for their own good that I was doing this, right? They were counting on me!

With that thought, I steeled myself. I forced myself to walk those last steps to the inconspicuous door that suddenly loomed large and deadly in my eyes. A door just like any other… except that the answers I sought would almost definitely lie behind it. All I had to do was find the courage in myself to open it…

I quailed at the thought. Whatever had managed to get Aerrow in its grips would surely be able to overpower me! And yet… I couldn't just let things be. If I didn't do anything...

I shuddered. We were all at risk. And in order for Piper to take me seriously, I needed to get some proof of the infestation.

I had noticed that for the past three days, both Finn and Aerrow had taken to carrying a notebook. Neither would let it lay and they always were within an arm's reach of the thing. They were both jumpy about these books… although they never really said why. Even Piper had asked about it, and Aerrow stammered something out about keeping notes on an experiment. Perhaps this was the wrong thing to say on his part, since Piper was all over experiments and tests and things of that nature, but Finn jumped in just as Aerrow opened his mouth to say something else.

"It's a guy thing. Between guys. No way you could get it out of us. It's a secret."

"Oh, really?" Piper said sarcastically, planting a fist on her hip and leveling her stare at Finn. "No way at all? As if you could even properly carry out an experiment on your own. Please." She rolled her eyes, but I could tell from the way she eyed the two that her curiosity was lit.

"Uh…yeah, Piper," Aerrow stammered. "Its no big deal anyway. Just something to pass the time."

"Then why don't you let me help?"

Finn scoffed. "Come on, Piper. We don't need any help. But ya never know… I guess I _could _be persuaded to tell you about it…"

"Oh? Howso?"

Finn pointed at his cheek with a grin. I saw Aerrow's eyes widen and Piper's mouth drop open.

"Finn!" Aerrow hissed at the same time that Piper shoved the sharpshooter in the shoulder.

"Finn, you are such a kid. Geez, if its that much of a big deal, I don't want anything to do with it. Go on, go have fun."

Piper turned away, but I saw the hurt in her eyes before she could cover it up.

Its never very fun to be excluded, I suppose. Unless you are like me… and you never want included in the first place.

"Piper-" Aerrow started, following after her. She just put up a hand and stopped him.

"Its okay Aerrow. I'm going to the lab for a few hours. Let me know when lunch is ready."

I felt bad for Aerrow. Even if he has a mind fungus, he looked like he genuinely felt bad for that whole incident. But I felt worse for Piper.

I almost followed her to the lab to see if I could help at all, but an opportunity presented itself at that moment that I just couldn't pass up. It came in the form of Aerrow, glaring balefully at Finn.

"Finn, lets go."

"Huh? Go where?"

"Training room. Now."

Finn winced and surprisingly, didn't argue. "Fine, fine. Whatever." He muttered and preceded a rather irate looking sky knight out of the room.

I could tell that it would probably be a long training session this time around. Judging from the way Aerrow was holding himself, he was full of nervous energy. That usually made for entertaining bouts between him and the rest of the squadron that lasted quite a while.

This was my chance.

I left the controls on auto pilot and shuffled to the door of the bridge. I glanced around furtively. Piper was holed up in the lab. Junko was down in the engine room working on one of the generators that had broken down. The others were going to be beating each other senseless, and if my instincts were correct, they would be going to their rooms to change. And in so doing, they would probably leave their notebooks in their rooms, since it made no sense to take them to the training room. I could feel my lips curl into a tiny smile.

Proof.

All I had to do was wait.

So wait I did, until I found myself standing here, at Finn's door, trying to get up the nerve to simply open it.

I knew I had time. The two humans wouldn't come back for a little while yet, since they had just started their sparring. All I had to do was push that button and open the door.

But for some reason, I was having a hard time convincing myself to do it. It was necessary, right? To protect the rest of the crew… and maybe to save Finn and Aerrow, if I somehow could.

There are plenty of ways to treat mind worms. Most of them are painful, but its better than living under some derangement.

I frowned at the door. I mean, if it were me, I would definitely want someone to take all necessary steps to protect life as we knew it, even though I would absolutely hate the idea of someone going through my room. Breach of trust aside, can you imagine all the disinfecting I would have to do once it was all over?

I shuddered. Who knows what sort of gross and terrifying organisms crept across any conceivable surface in Finn's room? I mean… from what I know of human males, they tend to be very…

Very…

Unhygienic.

That's the word.

But I couldn't stop now. I straightened my shoulders and stood up straight-well, as straight as I ever do, that is. For the good of the team.

I opened the door.

OOO

I blinked.

For as much of an annoyance Finn makes himself out to be, he's actually a fairly tidy individual. There wasn't much in the way of clutter around. Just his radio sitting on his desk and his bed was actually made.

Huh. The things you never know about people. This made my job all the easier though. In a neat room, it shouldn't be too hard to find what I was looking for.

But then again… who knew if the notebook had its own special spot? Finn might notice if it went missing for any amount of time.. so I had to be quick, and I had to confine my studies to the small window of time that he would not be in his room.

I looked around at the most obvious places. There was a stack of magazines on his desk near his radio. I rifled through them, a suffering a little trepidation at first. Who knew what Finn would be reading….?

But they turned out to be some sort of music magazines. Thank goodness. The notebook wasn't there, though. I moved on.

The notebook wasn't underneath his mattress or waste bin. It wasn't under his pillow. Not in any drawers or shelves that I could see.

I frowned. I couldn't have miscalculated… I looked around the room accusingly. If I were Finn, where would I hide something that I didn't want anyone else to see?

It hit me all of a sudden. Just as my eyes lighted on the one possession of Finn's that no one in the ship had any interest in touching.

The guitar.

It was leaning against the wall in an unused corner of the small room. The neck of the instrument was peeking out from within a homemade cloth guitar case. In a flash, I was across the room and kneeling down, riffling through the case.

Just when I was beginning to think my intuition had to be wrong, I felt it. Down near the body of the instrument was a thin notebook that was almost indistinguishable within the cloth case. I pulled it out carefully so as not to catch on the strings and break anything… but I needn't have bothered, I discovered. There were no strings on the guitar.

Strange. And that just served top further my conviction that something was truly wrong here. Its definitely not within the realm of Finn's reality to not have strings on that infernal noise machine.

I perked my ears up so as to hear any footsteps coming down the hall and flipped the notebook open.

It was hard to decipher. Finn's handwriting was awful… I could only make out a few lines here and there.

…_definitely going to win this one. Aerrow's …and he…but I guess he might stand a chance. Who knows, while I'd love to win… but cant imagine Piper's reaction. And either way… good for…_

…_don't think he'll beat me…_

I frowned. Some sort of infighting with the invaders? It looked like whatever was controlling Finn was worried about its standing… and somehow, Piper had something to do with it.

They couldn't have gotten to her yet could they? From what little I could read, it didn't seem as though she knew anything was amiss…I had to tell her that this whole elaborate story about an 'experiment' was about her. I carefully replaced the book and backtracked my way out of the room.

OOO

She was still locked alone in her lab by the time I made it out to the bridge again. No one else was wandering about so I had a few minutes to stew over my discovery.

They were after Piper. Maybe me and Junko too. Well, eventually, at least. Once they got Piper, it would be game over for all of us. I couldn't imagine what would happen to the whole squadron if Piper's intellect was lost. We would have no chance against the enemies that plague us every day. All the Cyclonians would have to do to win is come by and mop us up.

Was this a Cyclonian plot? They certainly had the resources to culture mind worms.. mental fungus. Hell, even Master Cyclonis is rumored to be some great sorceress. Maybe she found a way to infiltrate our home with her magicks.

The implications of that idea were immense. If it were truly the case… how long could she have been observing us?

I had worked myself almost into a fit in only a few moments. By the time Piper emerged from her lab on her own not thirty minutes later, I was a wreck. I could tell how obvious that fact was by the look on her face when she saw me.

"Stork? You okay?"

"I-i…uh, well… not precisely, no. I need to talk to you, Piper." I looked around significantly before fixing my eye on her face. "Alone."

"Uh… sure, Stork." She gestured to the lab she had just left. "Uhh…step into my office?"

I padded inside, jumpy and wired. She followed, the door closing quietly behind her. I peered around, inspecting each and every surface I could reach.

"Uhm… what are you doing, Stork?"

"There might be bugs… people listening. Cant let them know we know about it."

She scratched her head. "About what? What's going on?"

I stopped what I was doing and stared at her. I blinked once, slowly, before holding up one finger for emphasis. "Are you certain that you haven't noticed anything… weird?"

"Aside from you? Well… lets see, and aside from the stunt the guys pulled with their notebooks… the fact that Finn had the audacity to try to get a peck on the cheek in exchange for his stupid hypothesis… and the fact that Finn's been extra helpful these last couple of days. Did you know that he actually came to the lab and helped me alphabetize my entire crystal cross reference decks?"

I squirmed. "Exactly, Piper. Its like… he's possessed. I think he's-"

"Stork. Come on. Finn may have gone cuckoo from being closed up for so long, but he's not infected with a mind controlling virus. There's no way that it could happen, being that we're floating out here, self contained and no where near any other terras or ships."

"What about the notebooks?"

"I'm over that, Stork. If the boys want to keep their little secrets and act like kids, then let them. Its no big deal. Besides, I know that they don't have the willpower to keep clammed up about it for long."

"But I-"

"Seriously. If I notice anything else, I'll let you know. But right now, I bet its just the guys being guys."

"I don't think so," I said darkly. I turned to go.

If she wasn't going to believe me, then it just fell all on my shoulders to keep everyone safe.

And fight the infestation.

OOO

There we go. I think this fic will continue to have the semi short chapters, judging from the progress I am making. Or maybe I just have trouble writing Stork. I dunno. Either way, y'all seem to like voting on Stork's lines. That's funny, seeing as I wasn't really expecting to do much from his PoV at all since to the whole story, he's not even supposed to be a large part of it. But that is what the whole purpose of this fic idea was. To provide entertainment for you and mental exercise for me.

The poll results for this chapter:

There was no way this was going to work. (Stork) – 35 percent

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse… (Aerrow) - 29 percent

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only sane one here. (Piper) - 17 percent

I jumped guiltily when I heard the door slam shut. (Finn) - 11 percent

It was broken… but I had fixed worse. (Junko) - 5 percent

Okay… lets see. The next poll… this will be a fun one. The next chapter will start with an interjection. Like the last few polls, each line is pair with a different character. So go vote!

Oh, and if I get a few votes tonight, I'll run with what I have in a few hours and try for another update tonight.

Please review!


	5. Letting Off Steam

**Aerrow**

"Finn... for crying out loud!" I groaned. I was already agitated from the past couple of days, but as we squared off in the training area, all the frustration just seemed to build and build. Finn stood loosely in front of me, the expression on his face a mix of self satisfaction coupled with an anticipatory dread. The door to the room slammed shut and I could swear I saw him jump. Almost guiltily.

"What? I figured that you were getting too stressed out. If I just ended the bet right there, then you'd relax, right?"

"No!" I responded, a little too quickly, judging from the cheeky smile that flashed over Finn's face. I growled, low in my throat and stared at him. "This is stupid, Finn. If you want to end to bet too, lets just let it die, okay?"

The look he gave me was all the answer I needed. Piper was already mad at me for supposedly hiding something from her-something scientific, no less, for all she knew-and there really was no way for me to tell her about it even after the bet was over. I couldn't imagine the embarrassment that would overtake me if I tried to explain any of this to anyone, much less Piper.

I wanted to hit him.

"You know," I said, getting into a fighting stance, "After this is over, YOU are explaining everything to the others."

"Works for me," he replied, falling into a hand to hand pose that I could tell was awkward and stiff to him. He never practices. "I mean, when I win, what's to be worried about?"

I don't think he saw me coming. He flew back against the padded wall with a thump and a look of utter surprise. "What makes you think you're winning so easily?"

He chuckled, standing back up. "Well, its not like you're really trying too hard."

I flew after him again, but this time he was ready for me. Even though I'm quick and I pack more power, Finn can really move when he wants to. Damned agile sniper.

I have no idea why I was so fired up. But for some reason, I just really hated the presumption that he was showing in regards to Piper. I mean, come on! She deserved more respect than that! She didn't even know what was going on.

And he thought that he could win this bet? I mean, Piper wouldn't kiss him in a million years. She normally had a hard time just being in the same room as him whenever he decided to start talking. I cant even begin to count the times that those two would get into it with each other over something small.

Hell, most of the time I was the one to patch them up afterwards. I mean, I know they both thought of each other as friends, but sometimes they acted like they were married or something.

I blinked when that thought crossed my mind, and that earned me a visit to the floor as Finn took advantage of my distraction to kick my feet out from under me. I growled as I stood back up.

I spit a wad of blood out of my mouth. I had hit hard. I could feel a gouge on my tongue where my teeth had clamped down on it.

"Dude, you okay?" Finn walked up to me, holding out a hand. "I didn't mean to hit you that ha-"

I yanked him down, executing a perfect roll to my feet using the momentum he provided. I turned and held my hands out at the ready, facing him. "I'm fine. And I'm not done yet."

OOO

I was beat by the time we stumbled out of there, but at least my frustration was pretty much spent. We had been in there for over two hours by the time we agreed that we were done wailing on each other. I was drenched in sweat and covered in bruises, and so was Finn. But we both felt better, at least. I had let out my frustration and Finn…

Well, I hadn't killed him. So that was something for him to be happy about.

But anyhow, we acted pretty much alright with each other after that. Sometimes, I love being a guy. You have a problem, you just fight it out and when you're done, everything's back to being all good again. No confusion. No grudges. We were all square with each other once more.

Well, until the next time he pissed me off, but I try to live in the moment when it comes to that sort of thing.

So we were walking back to the bridge, laughing and joking with each other when I realized that we were getting some pretty strange looks. Namely, from Stork, who was standing there at the controls next to Piper. It looked as though we might have walked into the middle of some conversation, because Stork's mouth snapped shut and Piper had been smiling up at him and giggling. She was in the middle of patting Stork fondly on the shoulder when she saw us, and her expression grew colder by a few degrees. I winced, inside. That wasn't good. I didn't want her to be mad at me. I frowned slightly, noticing that she had transferred her glare from me to Finn, letting her hand slide down from Stork's shoulder.

How odd… and Stork looked embarrassed for some reason.

Wait.

Piper smiling up at Stork. Touching his shoulder almost affectionately.

Stork looking embarrassed…

I eyed Stork a little closer, but he refused to meet my gaze.

Was… was Stork…

No. No way. Piper and Stork is almost as bad a mental image as Piper and Finn.

I suppressed a shudder, then glanced up at Stork again.

He looked away.

Suddenly realizing that we were just standing there, saying almost nothing at all, I cleared my throat. "Uh, hey guys."

"Hrmm." Stork sounded more like he was clearing his throat than greeting us.

Piper simply sniffed and raised her eyebrows as if to ask why we were even trying to talk to her right now.

See, this is why I like being a guy. Things aren't so complicated when you can just go throw a few punches to settle it out.

"So… who's making lunch today?" Finn asked brightly. He looked as though he didn't even notice the venomous glances that Piper kept shooting at both of us.

"I don't know. Go ask Junko. Since you know, you don't need _my _help at all."

"Come on, Piper," I began, "Its not really that big a deal."

She just frowned at me. Finn looked like he was about to open his big mouth again, but before he could get any words out, I interrupted him. "Here's an idea. Why don't you come show me how to make that beef stew you did the other night? I mean, it was great and I would love to know how to cook that." I gave her my best lopsided grin, trying to put on the puppy eyes for good measure. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Finn choking back a laugh and Stork's eyes bulging out. Was he… worried? Upset?

…jealous?

Piper crossed her arms. For a long minute, it looked as though she was going to tell me to take a hike, but at the last moment she wavered.

"Okay, okay." She sighed, letting her arms fall back to her sides. "I suppose that you need to know how to make something other than sandwiches anyway."

I gestured to the door with a polite little bow, and she preceded me out of the room. I shot a victory grin over to Finn, who just smirked back at me.

Ass.

OOO

"So.." Piper mused as she started pulling ingredients out of the cabinets. I washed my hands in preparation to start cooking. "Is there something going on?"

"What?" I squeaked out, not facing her. I reached into the knife drawer and pulled out some sharp, pointy things. I don't usually do much around the kitchen unless its something that can be done up in less than five minutes, so I really didn't know what the reason for all the different types of knives. I just grabbed some at random. "What makes you think something's up?"

Piper shrugged and came over to where I was fumbling with silverware. She selected one with a serrated blade and put the rest of the knives I had dragged out back in the drawer before shutting it with a click. "Well.. aside from you acting weird, Finn acting nice, and Stork being… more Stork-like than usual? I cant imagine why I would think something is going on."

Oh. Well, this made me feel bad.

"Wait. What's wrong with Stork?" I asked suddenly, hoping to shift the focus from Finn and me to our pilot.

She shrugged and gestured me over to her side. She was cutting up some semi frozen hunks of meat. I guess it was beef, but I dunno. Red and raw is all I could tell. "Here, you have to cut the meat up into cubes so it all cooks through evenly. Think you can handle that?"

I nodded. "If there is one thing I can do, its cut things up!" I said with bravado. She transferred the knife to me, then moved off to the side to start peeling potatoes.

She didn't look at me as she replied to my earlier question about Stork. "Well.. I guess that whole thing with Stork is really his business. But I'll just go as far to say that he's really… jumpy. And he's been nervous for the past couple of days." A glance daggered at me, but I endeavored to ignore it. "About the same amount of time that you two have been doing your… 'experiment.'" This last part was said with no little twinge of bitterness.

"Piper, its no-"

"I know, I know. And I know you don't want to let me in on it. But just let me know one thing. You aren't doing anything to Stork, are you? I mean, he's being more paranoid than normal and I'm worried about him."

I frowned. "No. We aren't doing anything at all to Stork. I promise."

"Good. I don't think you'd do anything detrimental to anyone in any case, Aerrow. And I know that whatever you're doing, you're bound to be able to keep Finn in line anyway." She fell silent, concentrating on the task before her.

I shifted my weight uncomfortably. Several times, I opened my mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't form in my mind. I eventually just looked down at the meat I was slicing apart with the serrated blade.

Damn Finn.

I cant say that I was upset with him really. I mean, I had just blown off a lot of steam on him, and even if I were up to it, it wouldn't be fair to start in on him again today. I mean, even though I was bruised, at least I wasn't sporting a black eye like he was.

I kinda felt bad about all that, though. I mean, its not really a thing that friends do. Giving each other black eyes, I mean. Even though it did help with training and so on.

I don't normally get that worked up. And now… hell. Who knows. I'd just have to apologize to him later. If he didn't piss me off too much, that is.

As I had been thinking, I had starting slicing the meat with more and more agitation. This was almost as much of an outlet as brawling, and I began to enjoy myself.

Well, that is, until I laid my finger open when I brought the knife down hard on my hand. "Ow!"

I pulled my hand away before any blood could get on the meat, then hurried over to the sink. Piper had dropped her own knife at my cry and she followed me. "Aerrow, you okay? Here, let me see."

I had turned on the warm water and was running it over my wounded digit. She leaned past me to look at it and her hair tickled my nose.

It smelled nice. Clean and tinged with some of the scents I associate with her lab.

I focused my attention on the emergency at hand, though. She straightened. "Its pretty bad. I'm going to go get Stork."

"Uh…" I started. That finger really DID hurt… a lot. Like, on fire pain. She patted me on the shoulder and dashed out of the room.

I stared down at my hand. The blood welled up and was washed away just as quickly. It really was a deep cut, but at least I seemed to be able to flex the joints. "Cant be that bad…" I muttered.

But it did hurt. A lot.

OOO

I hate stitches. Getting them hurts. Getting them pulled sucks. But I think the worst part about getting stitches is the fact that I can go through battle after battle with talons and come through with only a scratch. I can face the Dark Ace head on and return unblemished.

But a damned hunk of beef kicks my ass?

That's just wrong.

I sat stoically while Stork pulled the needle and thread through my skin, though I wanted to whimper at every pass.

The wound was on the side of my index finger. It was positioned in such a way that there was almost no way I would be able to weild a dagger in that hand. It would take some weeks to mend enough for me to use it comfortably, according to Stork.

I glanced at him as he disinfected the hand after he finished sewing me up. He was still making an effort to avoid looking me in the eye and he seemed even more skittish than normal. He had even insisted on Piper staying during the procedure as well. I mean, it wasn't like I was some invalid. I could have helped him with whatever he needed. And it wasn't like it took that long to sew up a four inch cut, either.

He kept glancing over at Piper worriedly, then back at me. And then at Finn, who refused to budge from the room after witnessing my finger. Finn, for his credit, looked genuinely worried for me up until he realized that it wasn't anything too major. And also, to his credit again, he didn't make any moves on Piper while the whole ordeal played out.

Stork kept looking back at her though, and I found myself getting more and more agitated by that.

I mean… if I didn't know better… Stork himself seemed to be acting almost.. jealous?

I couldn't stop the flare of resentment that washed through me, but I didn't know who exactly it was directed at. Finn, for getting me into this situation with the wager, Stork, for seemingly being possessive of Piper, or Piper herself, for being the whole object of this fiasco.

I ground my teeth together. So much for a relaxing couple of weeks until our next mission.

I was more stressed out now than when I was facing off with the Dark Ace.

OOO

Haha, well, I cant hide it. I seem to love inflicting bodily harm on Aerrow. And he takes it so well!

This chapter came out totally unexpected to me again. I didn't even intend on Aerrow getting it into his head the idea of Piper and Stork… this is almost a soap opera, only not full of fake tears. I just need to put someone into a coma and I'll be all set.

The last poll results:

"Finn... for crying out loud!" I groaned. (Aerrow) – 38 percent

"Oh, please? Aerrow?" I protested. (Piper) – 19 percent

"Junko, its no big deal! Really!" I said innocently. (Finn) 19 percent

"No, sorry, Piper. I cant do that." I muttered. (Stork) 14 percent

"Oh, please. Calm down, Stork!" I growled. (Junko) 9 percent

That was very interesting. For a while, Finn was in the lead until people totally swamped Aerrow's poll answer.

As for the next poll, I'm changing it up. This one will be a place setting. Also, each character is paired up with a poll choice, but I will be doing something else. Leave in your reviews who you want to hear from next. That way, if a certain place setting is popular, yet a different character than the one I originally had in mind, then I will be able to more or less please the masses.

I'm enjoying this fic immensely, even though so far I've only done Stork and Aerrow.

And much thanks to those who have reviewed so far. This is an incredible mental exercise for me, and it has even let me start working on my own original novel.

Thanks for reading. Please let me know how I am doing!


	6. Bathroom Moments

**Finn**

I figured the bathroom was a safe place to hide for a little while. I was a little wary of trying to go anywhere on the ship right now, what with the way things were stirred up.

I felt like the kid that had been throwing rocks at a hornet's nest, really. I mean, I had Aerrow all up in arms about Piper-that on its own was hilarious enough-then I managed to get Piper peeved at both of us… and who knew _what_ was up with Stork? Paranoid guy. I suppose his latest bout of panic was just a plus to the whole situation. I didn't even cause it… at least, not as far as I could see.

So I was just chilling out there on the bathroom sink, bouncing a rubber ball against the wall, when there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I called, not pausing.

"Its me, Finn. Open up!" I smirked, then drew myself up from the sink and walked over to the door. I leaned against the wall next to it and called out, "Why? Who says I'm not in the middle of using the bathroom? Jeesh, Piper, let a guy do his business."

"I know you aren't using the bathroom Finn, I just hear your voice move across the room. I'm not stupid. And I need to talk to you."

I sighed. That was no fun. I unlocked the door and opened it before hopping back up on the counter.

Piper stood outside the door and stared in at me. "What are you doing?"

"Well, obviously I wont be able to enjoy the use of the bathroom until you have your say. But I'm not going to leave."

She rolled her eyes. She looked pretty frustrated. Especially when I resumed bouncing the ball against the walls, catching it easily in one hand without even looking. "Finn, you are such a kid."

I shrugged and held my hands out to my sides, loosely gripping the ball in one of them. "Guilty as charged. Is that all you had to say? Cause if it is, that's kinda messed up. I mean, barging in on a guy in the middle of his private bathroom time…"

In three long steps, Piper was face to face with me, the door closing after her passage. I felt a grin working its way around my lips as she stewed visibly in front of me. "Finn, you know exactly what I am talking about."

"Actually, no, I don't."

"You do. What the hell is this thing with Aerrow you guys are going on about?"

"You know I cant tell you."

"Why not?"

I grinned. She was leaning even closer. If I wasn't such a good guy, I could lean in right now and win the whole wager. But… no. The kiss had to be given, not taken. "Because it is a deal. Aerrow and I promised not to tell anyone anything until the end of the… experiment."

Her lips twisted into a frown, but my grin just got wider. "You know, Finn, Stork is starting to act nutty too. Even more than normal. And if I find out that you have done anything to anyone…" she let the threat hang in the air.

I raised my hands defensively. "Hey, if you ask me, the only one who has been doing any 'hurting' around here lately is Aerrow. First he gives me a black eye, then he tries to play doctor and amputate his own hand. So maybe you're barking up the wrong tree, Piper."

She raised one hand and jabbed me in the chest. Hard. Where one of Aerrow's kicks had raised a bruise.

Dammit. That hurt. "Ow! What was that for?" The surprise caused me to drop the ball and it ricocheted across one of the walls, bounced over the bathtub, before landing almost perfectly in the toilet. "Hey! My ball!" I whined.

"Don't be such a baby, Finn." She jabbed me again, eliciting another cry from me. "I would be lying if I said I don't care about whatever it is you guys are doing, but for the love of all that is good, please leave Stork and myself out of it. If I have to calm Stork down one more time because of you-"

"Because of me?" I objected, "It's not my fault the whole thing isn't over by now."

Jab. Okay, that was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

"Finn, open your eyes! Aerrow's all stressed out and Stork's being more paranoid than normal. There's no imminent threat from the outside so the only logical conclusion is that you're the one causing all of this!"

I snagged her hand before she could abuse my poor ribcage again. "Hey! Who's to say YOU aren't the cause, huh Piper? I mean, I could tell you exactly what the big problem is, and you probably wouldn't like it. So just stop being so nosey and chill out for a minute. Its not like you have to know everything that's going on in this ship!"

Piper… well, lets just say that she's not one to back down. Neither am I, really. So as I was yelling back at her, she was bulling up to me, stepping forward and throwing her shoulders back. In anyone else her size, it really would have been hilarious, but she really did have it in her to be scary when she wanted to. She probably didn't notice it, but by the time I had finished speaking, she was a bare three inches from me, eyes blazing and jaw jutted forward.

"I know I'm not the reason for you guys going weird because I haven't even had anything to _do _with you two lately!" She wrested her hand from my grasp.

She really was a good looking girl, I mused in the split second I had to think about a retort. Not many women could affect righteous anger and not come across like a harpy. Piper came across more as a…I dunno. Does avenging angel sound too cliché? Because I have no other idea how to describe it.

If she could have an aura of righteousness about her just from getting angry at a little stunt from Aerrow and me, I really wondered what she might look like when she _really _threw herself behind a cause. Probably a sight to behold, to be sure.

But I'm wandering now. There was a more important task at hand. Like not getting beat up for the second time in one day.

I just had to figure out how to leave this situation with most of my body intact. After the fun with Aerrow, I was pretty beat. She could probably take me out easy if she really felt like it, seeing how tired I was. I knew that I would probably not be able to move her away by force-not that I would get violent in any case, but even pushing her out of my way was really out of the question. Besides, I was there first. She could just wait her turn for the bathroom.

I still had to pee. I wasn't going anywhere.

So… what to do… come on, Brain. I don't use you much, but when I do, you never fail me.

Much.

It was just then that I had a pretty evil thought. I smiled, grabbed one of her arms gently in one hand, then leaned forward until my eyes were directly in line with hers. "You know, Piper," I said in a low voice, "You're really pretty when you're breathless and… angry."

The look on her face is one I will never forget, no matter how long I live.

The change was immediate. I bet she never saw _that_ coming. I smiled and leaned forward even more, to where our foreheads were nearly touching.

"Wha-_what?_" she squeaked. Then she backed up from me really quick. "Finn, what is wrong with you?"

I shrugged, then, and, judging that it couldn't have too bad of a result, I advanced slowly. "Hey, you know me. Terrible liar and all. I just said what popped into my mind. And, you know, its true."

"Finn… stay right there. I mean, don't… uh… just-" She edged around the bathroom wall until she reached the door. Keeping her eye on me until she managed to get it open, she back swiftly out, mumbling something that vaguely sounded like, "Maybe Stork's right…"

I waited for the door to close… then I broke down into gut wrenching, tear inducing laughter. My bruised sides howled at me for laughing so hard, but I couldn't stop. I laughed and laughed and laughed, because the situation continued to repeat itself in my mind.

I almost couldn't believe that I had really said that. Even though it was sorta true… but still. Piper was probably going to stew over this for weeks. And if I really wanted to be evil, I could just act as though it never happened. That's something that would really get under Piper's skin because of her insatiable desire to know the reasons behind everything. She wouldn't have even been brash enough to try to bully me around in the bathroom, of all places, if she wasn't consumed with mad curiosity.

Standing up, I wiped my streaming eyes and turned on the water in the shower. Since I was there, I may as well get cleaned up.

And I couldn't wait to write about this in my notebook.

OOO

Don't get me wrong. I fully intend on pursuing this bet to its conclusion. I mean, talk about bragging rights, you know? And I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice Piper the way a guy notices a girl. You'd have to be blind not to see her as a woman, rather than a teammate. But that wasn't the whole reason I made this bet.

Mostly, it was boredom. Like I told Aerrow earlier, three weeks flying around with no stops was a surefire way for me to go insane, so I needed something to occupy my time. And sure, I suppose I could have pursued Piper on my own, but how weird would that be? I wouldn't have nearly as much fun with it all either.

I mean, its not as though I _like _her that way. You can notice physical attributes without being romantically interested, right?

She and I are way too different anyway. Could you imagine a relationship like that? Man, we'd single handedly keep the psychology field funded just from our dysfunction. So no, I didn't really desire Piper in any way other than as a friend, or…

…or nothing.

Just friends. Antagonistic, rivaling, sarcastic friends.

Hah. Me and Piper. That's a funny thought. Who would be foolish enough to think _that _would work? That's almost as bad as Stork hooking up with Starling. They'd kill each other. Or, at least, Starling would accidentally kill Stork, somehow. I turned my mind away from that line of thinking before I could delve too deep into it. If there was one person whose romantic life I could live my whole existence without knowing about, it was Stork.

I laughed to myself and rolled over on my bed, staring at the wall. It was late now. After Piper had escaped the bathroom, I had taken a cool shower. I firmly told myself that it was because I didn't want to wait for the water to warm up before I fell into my bed in a heap. That was the only reason.

I yawned, but strangely, didn't feel too tired. The look on Piper's face when I said she looked pretty kept replaying in my mind. The shock. The slight widening of her eyes. The way her mouth opened gently, letting her white teeth flash in the harsh light of the bathroom. I snickered to myself when I remembered the slight hitch in her breath when she backed away from me and the way she almost stumbled when she reached the wall.

After a moment, I frowned and rolled onto my back.

Its not like I liked her like that. Really. It was just a silly bet. I just wanted to watch Aerrow squirm, because I knew his that he couldn't turn down a good challenge, even though this was probably starting to chafe against his stringent sense of duty to the squadron.

He wouldn't quit though. Either the idea of my beating him or something else kept him in it. I knew I had my source of entertainment for days to come.

And I _didn't_ think of Piper that way.

Not really.

This was just a game. That's all.

OOO

Yay! Finn! I love writing Finn.

I realize this was short and didn't necessarily further the plot much, but I took the time to get y'all more acclimated to Finn's thought processes on the whole situation. Also, I have to go in to work early tomorrow so I didn't have the time to do a terribly long chapter.

I might do a couple more in my drabbles fic tonight though. I am liking that one.

I did this one in Finn's POV because I got one or two PMs asking for his POV in this chapter, as well as the fact that he was coupled up with the bathroom setting (though I meant to do more in the bathroom. I was going to try to make it hilarious, but I don't think I managed that this time around. Maybe when I have more time I can do funnier and longer.)

Poll results:

The Bathroom (Finn) – 38 percent

The Runway (Piper) – 33 percent

The Hangar (Junko) - 16 percent

The Bridge (Stork) – 5 percent

The Kitchen (Aerrow) – 5 percent

The next poll shall be… an event. Again, if you have a preference for a POV, either leave it in a review or PM me with your preference. I'll take it all into account.

So, go get out there and vote!

And this is a shameless plug for my Drabbles story thingy. I was thinking that I might take the Conversations theme and turn that into a story in itself.

Thanks for reading!


	7. Boom!

**Junko**

I was the closest one to the lab when the explosion boomed through the ship. I heard Piper's scream shortly after, and before I could even think, I was reacting.

My feet carried me through the halls at a rushing speed. Piper was in trouble! Where were the others? Were they okay?

What happened?

I skidded out in front of the lab, barely stopping in time, before snagging the door and hauling it open. "Piper! Where are you?"

I stared around in confusion. I couldn't see her.

I couldn't see… anything?

As soon as I opened the door, the whole place was engulfed in white. Swirling, eddying, misty whiteness. It flowed out of the lab and pervaded the hall in a solid white wall of wet air as soon as I had opened the door.. It was thick, too. I was immediately drenched and covered in condensation where ever this stuff touched my skin.

But that wasn't important right now. What I was worried about was Piper, since I was certain that I had heard a terrified scream. I blundered into the swirling cloud, my hands outstretched. "Piper?" I called again, "You okay? I heard you scream. What happened?"

"I'm… right here… Junko." I whipped my head around at the sound of her voice, trying to zero in on it. The mist made the every noise sound dull and really muted.

"I cant see. Keep talking, Piper!" I stepped carefully, just in case I accidentally stepped on Piper.

She wheezed once or twice, but managed to keep talking. The room wasn't very big, so I didn't have too far to search before I found her.

Or rather, she found me. I nearly jumped out of my skin when a warm hand clasped around my wrist. "Junko, can you help me to the door? We need to get this cloud dispersed. We should open the hangar doors."

I grunted my ascent and gathered her up carefully in my arms before turning and feeling my way gingerly back to the entrance. The cloud was… all encompassing. "What happened?" I asked as I moved.

I could hear the grimace in her voice. "I made a mistake."

That made me laugh. "I'll say."

She mumbled something. I couldn't hear.

"Anyway," I continued, "Are you hurt at all? I mean, you're okay, right?"

"Yeah. I have a few cuts from the… incident, but I should be fine."

"Dude…" came Finn's voice from somewhere in front of me. "What happened?"

"Finn!" This time it was Stork. "What did you do to my SHIP?"

"It wasn't me!"

Somewhere in the thick white, I could hear Stork hyperventilating. There was a slap of flesh on flesh, and then a muffled "Ow!"

That one was Aerrow. "What was that for?" he complained.

I guess Stork had hit the first moving target he managed to see… or, in this case, sense. There was no seeing going on in the barest sense of the word.

Piper fidgeted. "We need to clear this place out quick," she muttered to me, "before Stork starts pushing buttons."

My eyes widened. If Stork thought the ship was under attack… well, no one was safe. Especially if they couldn't see.

"Can you stand on your own?"

"Yes. I was just a little stunned earlier, that's all."

Putting my hand to the wall and juggling Piper around so I could set her down gently, I started making my way down the corridor. Piper had a death drip on my elbow.

It seemed like an age before we made it to the doors to the outside. It seemed like it took even longer to get them open. Have you ever tried to operate normal, everyday things when you cant see? It's a lot harder than you'd think. I mean, you misjudge where everything is, not to mention running into things that you never really take into account when you are able to see.

The effect of opening that door wasn't quite immediate, but the density of the fog did lessen just a little bit.

"Uhh… Piper?" I asked, staring down at the hazy, indistinct shape that clung to my arm. "Why are you hugging my elbow?"

"I just… Junko, can you help me get back to the bridge? I'll tell you there, but we need to make sure Stork calms down. He's been jumpy lately."

"Oh. I didn't notice. Lots of stuff has gone breaking lately. I've been working a lot."

With the cloudiness washing down the hall to the open doors of the hangar to be sucked away into the atmosphere, the visibility began to increase. After a moment, the blurry dark spots that indicated obstacles starting to regain their normal shapes. Furniture became identifiable. The shadowy forms that moved around coalesced into my friend's shapes. I looked down at Piper to comment on this revelation, but stopped with my mouth hanging open.

She had nicks and cuts all over her face and arms. I guessed that she probably had them all over her body too, judging from the numerous tears in her clothing. There was a little blood here and there, nothing too serious. All in all, when you think about the fact that she had just had what seemed to be a rather large lab accident, she didn't look too bad off.

Except for one thing.

Piper was floating.

Now, I know you're probably thinking that I'm just being some simpleminded Wallop, but I swear, I'm not. Piper was _floating. _Like, at least a foot above the ground.

I felt my jaw fall open. I heard some weird noises, and realized that they were coming from me.

"Wha… um… Piper? I-uh, that is…"

She stared at me with a long suffering look on her face. "I know, Junko. I know."

OOO

Finn wouldn't stop laughing. And laughing. And laughing some more. It was even starting to get on my nerves, and I'm a pretty easygoing guy.

"I cant believe it!" Finn said again, for probably the twentieth time, "You managed to make your floater crystal explode all over you!"

Piper stared at him with a scowl on her face. She gripped the table until both of her hands were white-knuckled from the pressure. "Yes," she said through her teeth, "And as funny as it might be, Finn, its not the most pleasant feeling in the world."

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

She groaned. "Actually, it does. Not too many of them managed to stick me, because most of the shards just blew past. But there are a couple that managed to stick… Mostly, I breathed in the dust it kicked off."

"Oh…" I mused over that for a minute.

"But Piper, is the dust really enough to have this type of effect on you? I mean, isn't it kinda… extreme?" Aerrow put in.

"Well, at the time I was playing with an enhancer stone… the floater.. and one of the nimbus crystals. So.."

Finn's snort of laughter interrupted again. "Piper made a super floaty cloud!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Wait!" I said, "If you were messing with those three crystals, why are you the only one who is all…floaty?"

She looked almost thankful towards me. I guess it was because I hadn't laughed at her yet. Even Aerrow had busted into guffaws at her plight, though he had quickly recovered himself. Stork had left the room, muttering something about some sort of fungus, and we hadn't seen him since. I wanted to know where he went, but the situation immediately at hand warranted a little more attention. The cloud was still streaming out of the lab and down the hallway, pulled by the draft created by the open doors.

"I had already resonated the enhancer stone to the floater crystal when something went weird. I don't know why it exploded; it just did. I stumbled and knocked the nimbus crystal onto the floor right afterward. The explosion.. lets just say that the floater crystal is pulverized. I think most of it dissipated directly after the boom, but I got a real good faceful of it."

"I'll say," Finn snickered.

Piper narrowed her eyes at him. "Not in the mood for you right now, Finn."

Aerrow reached over and laid a hand across Piper's arm. "Its okay, Piper. Finn's just playing around. Do you know if there is any way to reverse the effects?"

She sighed, but visibly relaxed with Aerrow's gesture. "I can only think that the crystal particles each have to lose their power… but that could take a while."

"What, like a few hours?" I questioned.

"No, Junko," Piper replied morosely. "With that enhancer stone… a few days."

The room was quiet for a few moments. Then from the back, near the door, I heard a small, resigned voice.

"And how long is there going to be a cloud… INSIDE my ship?"

Piper cringed at the question. She looked like she felt lousy. I could understand that. Stork wasn't always the most forgiving of people, but he'd come around. In a few weeks.. who knows? Maybe he'd think the whole situation was funny.

Aerrow's jaw set stubbornly when he saw Piper droop. "Hey, now, Stork. Piper didn't mean to do it. Its an accident."

"A _funny _accident." Finn said, helpfully.

Stork scowled. He eyed the smoky cloud that still swirled around the deck to about knee height, obscuring the floor from view. "Too many things are going weird around here…"

Aerrow sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No kidding," he muttered.

"Anyway… Junko, could you help Stork get the ventilation shafts open? That should help clear out this mess. Finn, start sweeping up the lab. I'm going to help get Piper back to her room and see if there isn't anything we can do in the short term to keep her from flying away by accident."

I shrugged and stood up. "Sure thing."

"Thanks Aerrow," Piper said with a smile of gratitude. Aerrow's face flushed slightly and he gave his normal crooked grin in return. I glanced over at Finn, and was surprised to see a strange look cross his features. It was only there for a split second, but I'm sure I saw it.

I couldn't really place it, though. It wasn't a dark look, or angry. More like…

Hurt? No, that wasn't it. Something close.

I guess he really didn't want to clean up after Piper's mess. That's understandable, but then again, Piper cleaned up after us plenty of times. I leaned over and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Finn. I'll help you clean up after I get finished helping Stork with the vents."

Finn shook himself and grinned up at me. "Sure buddy. Thanks."

OOO

It didn't take much time for us to find all the ventilation shafts and open them up. By the time Stork and I finished, Aerrow had returned from taking Piper to her room and was helping Finn out with the mess of the lab. It was still kinda hard to see, but we did as much as we could to clear the floor of most of its debris.

I was a little surprised to see Finn and Aerrow working side by side in silence. I mean, it didn't look like they were too happy with each other, but I figured the reasoning was because of the way Finn had been acting. Sure, he's my best friend, but he can be a little bit.. I dunno. Obnoxious?

I grabbed a broom and started helping out. After the first few attempts I had made at conversation had fallen flat, I just turned my attention to the chore.

I was kinda worried. Piper had been right about Stork being weirder than normal. And now Aerrow and Finn seemed to be getting angrier a little easier. Piper seemed to be the only one who wasn't acting strange.

Well, I hadn't seen Radarr lately. But then again, Radarr was pretty short and the cloud still reached my knees…

But in any case, I felt like maybe I had missed something. I mean, I had been virtually by myself for the past few days, what with the generator going bad and other things around the ship deciding to die at the last minute. I had my work cut out for me for the past while, that was for sure.

But now that things had slowed down a little for me, I was a little wary. It was a very faint feeling, but I could sense it nonetheless… there was tension on the Condor. I couldn't put my finger on it, though.

I pondered that fact while I worked.

What was I missing?

OOO

Ugh… okay, I would like to say right off the bat that I am sorry if that was way out of character. First time writing him. I don't have a natural feel for him, I think. I might have used terminology that he would normally not have in his vocabulary…

Anyhow, I hope that measured up, even though I'm not too fond of it. And this is a really short one… sorry again. I'm making certain that no update is shorter than 2000 words (even though I think anything less than 2500 is too short… but eh.), but I had a hard time with this one.

Poll results:

Accident in the Lab (Junko) – 33 percent

Power Outage (Piper) – 27 percent

Squadron Picnic on the Flight Deck (Aerrow) – 16 percent

Food Fight (Stork) – 11 percent

Target Practice (Finn) – 11 percent

And the next poll….

Subject. This one shall be a vote on the subject matter of the next chapter. And this time, you actually get to know who you are voting for!

Please review! And vote!

Thanks for reading!


	8. Hanging Around

**Piper**

I have no idea why they seem to want to put me to bed whenever something weird happens to me.

I mean, I wasn't even really injured, you know. I was just… a little… floaty. So what if it was strange? What was I going to do in my room, go to sleep? I doubted it. I would probably sit there… sorry, _float_ there and brood over how to fix this stupid problem.

So even though I didn't feel like it, I let Aerrow fuss and bully me to my room. The look on his face when he realized that even if I went to my bed, there was no way I could lay down in it… well, that was good for a laugh. His face flushed red with embarrassed frustration as he held a blanket that he knew would be just about useless. After a few bumbling attempts to get me settled, he muttered something about helping out with the lab mess.

"I can come help too, you know." I called as he started to leave.

He just peeked back over his shoulder. "Nah, its okay. Just go ahead and take a break. I'll come back and check on you later."

I scowled as my door shut. Take a break from what?

I mean, come on. It was barely noon. Even though the guys had nothing better to do these days than to run around acting like kids, I had actual work to do. Crystals don't refine themselves, after all. If the guys wanted their weapons to be of any use at all when we got to our next destination, then I had to be allowed to work.

May as well let Aerrow think I had taken at least a little bit of a break. At the moment, I had been bobbing in the air over my bed in a cross legged sitting position, but had slowly rotated into the center of the room while I was brooding about being stuck inside.

On a whim, I uncrossed my legs and stretched them out below me. My toes made the barest contact with the floor before I drifted upward, hovering about ten inches from the deck. I glanced up. The ceiling was still a good ways above me.

Carefully, I stretched my hands down to my toes. My balance wavered a bit, but I didn't go tumbling anywhere. Instead, it was as though my center of gravity just shifted a little. I grunted with a little effort and stretched my hands a bit further down, while at the same time kicking my legs out backwards until I was in a handstand.

My body bobbed a bit in the air before settling back again, this time with my fingertips hovering over the floor and my feet balanced perfectly over my head. "This is kinda cool," I muttered.

The possibilities whirled through my head. It looked like the lowest point of my body was always going to hover just above the surface below me. I could only imagine the uses that something like this would have… that is, if there was any way to achieve forward motion, rather than static movements.

I thrust my body forward in a somersault, somehow managing to maneuver back into a normal upright position. I looked around.

I wasn't near any walls or anything that I could use to pull myself forward. I couldn't touch the floor or the ceiling. Frowning, I mimicked the motion of walking with legs that didn't touch the ground.

Not surprisingly, all I managed to accomplish was feeling a little silly. It was like treading water that had no resistance at all. I grimaced. Then I noticed something else.

The air vent in my room was on. It was blowing directly onto me from over my bed, and that was probably what had moved me from there in the first place. I sat still for a moment and stared around at my surroundings. After a minute, it became apparent that I was moving minute distances in the stream of the slight draft that the vent had caused. I grinned.

Slowly but surely, it was moving me in the direction of my staff, which leaned up against the wall near the door. If I could just get the staff… I could probably use it to propel myself forward against the floor. Or any surface, really.

As I drifted, I let myself ponder. It really didn't make any sense that the floater had such an effect on me. Even with the enhancer stone it shouldn't have been this potent. I mean, sure, I had inhaled a lot of the powder from when it pulverized right in my face, but it shouldn't have down this much. If nothing else, it should have just made me a little lighter on my feet.

I crossed my arms with a sigh, then winced. I looked down, noticing for the first time all the cuts that I had all over my skin. My clothing was scored by tiny tears all over the fabric. My face itched from the newly formed scabs that I could suddenly feel all over me.

I scratched idly at one of the cuts on my arm and winced when a burning sensation shot through it. Furrowing my brow, I looked down at the offending mark. It didn't look like anything more than a small cut in my skin. I probed it gently with my fingertip, steeling myself for the throb of pain that doing so brought on.

"That's weird," I said to myself. "Why is it doing that?"

I found myself picking agitatedly at the scratch, lost in thought. It felt almost like the time I had gotten a metal splinter in my hand when I was helping Junko clean up in the engine room a few months ago.

I bumped up against the door a lot sooner than I expected. I had probably gathered momentum from the draft. Looking around, I quickly gathered up my staff, punched the button to open my door, and tapped the butt of the staff gently against the ground.

I thought I was prepared, but evidently not. The effect of using the staff didn't move me forward in a uniform motion, but sent me spinning slowly into the hallway. If I had been a less traveled individual, I might have gotten sick from the lazy swirl.

I kicked my legs ineffectually in the air as I tried to right myself, but nothing seemed to work. I could throw my weight around all I wanted, it seemed, but none of that would give me any real control over direction and speed. I had to be acted upon by an outside force.

I clamped down on my panicky movements and forced myself to thing rationally. The only way to move about was to propel myself. In order to do that, I had to mind how I was positioned and where my center of gravity was sitting. As I spun around some more, my head getting a little more light and dizzy, I reached out to the side with the hand that was not holding the staff.

After a moment, my hand came in contact with the wall, sliding up the surface for a moment before friction caused my rotation to slow. I groaned and closed my eyes for a moment.

This was going to take a moment to get used to. But then again, it was all mathematics, right? I'm pretty good at that sort of thing. It was all angles. That was it.

With renewed determination, I took my staff up in both hands, bringing the ends down gently against the deck.

And slowly, I began to move.

OOO

I was kinda glad the guys had taken their time in cleaning up like they normally do. It probably took me a good hour and a half to make it down the hallway on my own. Believe me, that was probably the longest hour and a half in my life, and I most definitely did not need an audience. Finn would have just cracked up, Aerrow would have dragged my unresisting self back to my room, and Junko would have just worried himself to death. As it was, it gave me plenty of practice to learn how to move with the staff, and by the time I made it out there, I was going a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

The bridge was pretty much deserted. I didn't even see Stork in there. I began to make my way over to the crystal lab, where I could still see smoky cloud matter flowing out. I frowned and stopped before I could get too close, though. The open hangar doors were seeing to it that the cloud was sucked almost immediately out of the spaces. It probably had a pretty good draft to it, and if the vent in my room was enough to move me, I could only imagine what a vacuum to the outside of the ship would do.

I almost called for help on that account when I saw Finn and Aerrow emerge from the lab. I was still s few feet away, clinging to a pipe running up the wall for extra support and they hadn't even looked in my direction.

"..sure?" Aerrow was in the middle of asking Finn. "I mean, its not something we really foresaw happening when we started this whole thing."

"Nothing changes, Aerrow. I know you're just trying to get out of it. I mean, if you want me to win so badly…"

"No," Aerrow retorted, "I am just trying to have a little courtesy…"

They disappeared down another corridor and I could no longer hear their words.

Odd. I got the feeling they were discussing something about their little experiment… but what was Finn talking about winning something?

I debated trying to follow. It struck me that with the state I was in now, eavesdropping would be an easy thing to do. There was almost no way that anyone would be able to tell I was there. No foot falls. No foot prints. But the corridor they had disappeared into was past the open doors to the hangar. I didn't want to chance that. Imagine if I got caught up in the wind and blown away? I didn't want to thing about how life might be out in the wastelands, hovering one foot above the ground and being unable to move in any direction without substantial effort.

So I swallowed my curiosity and returned back the way I had come.

OOO

I was exploring my weightlessness a little more in my room when I was interrupted by a quiet knock. It was probably Aerrow, I figured, since he was just about the only one to knock so politely and wait to be called to enter.

"It's open" I called out to the door, still spinning lazily in the air while doing a makeshift handstand. "Come on in."

I heard the door open but I was angled away from it. I heard footsteps approach, then stop. When I rotated around once more, I glanced up and blinked in surprise.

Bright blue eyes peered down at me from Finn's face. "You look like you're enjoying yourself." He remarked.

I blinked up at him. "A little. Gotta make the best of it, I guess."

"Yeah."

I reached a hand up to him and he automatically held out his own. I grabbed his hand and used it to give me the leverage to flip back right side up again. "What do you want, Finn?" I asked suspiciously.

A grin just danced around his lips. "Well, I _was _going to see if you were hungry and wanted to go to the kitchen, but I guess I can just leave you to your spinning…"

At that moment, my stomach decided to growl loudly. I looked at him with a small half smile. "Um… I am a bit hungry, I guess," I admitted.

Finn laughed. "Okay. Aerrow said you had problems moving around so I figured I would see if you needed any help getting down there."

"Yeah. I am kinda stuck."

He just shrugged and turned, holding out the crook of his arm. I raised an eyebrow. That was a strange thing. For a guy who never really put much stock into proper etiquette, he sure knew how to almost look the part. "Thanks," I muttered, wrapping both hands around his arm. I know I looked like I was clinging to him for dear life, but… well, really, I was. I didn't want to go flying off out an open window or something.

Finn started moving down the hall. I caught him glancing at me a few times with an inscrutable expression on his face. The white cloud swirled about his legs as he moved through it.

It didn't take us too long to make it to the kitchen. It was empty. Finn deposited me at a chair, making sure I had a good grip on it before he started rummaging through the cabinets. I watched him suspiciously. "What are you doing?"

"Well… looking for something to make for lunch. Any preferences?"

"You can cook?"

"Every now and then. But I'm best at making sandwiches. Less chance of accidental death that way."

"...accidental death?"

That question got me a cheesy grin. "Yeah. So, peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese?"

"I don't know if I'd trust you with making grilled cheese. There's heat involved."

"Yeah, I was thinking peanut butter too."

Finn grabbed the bread, peanut butter, and jelly and tossed them to the table, along with a couple plates and a knife. Then he sat down across from me and proceeded to make up the sandwiches.

"You know," I said, "I could make my own food."

He shrugged. "What, cant I do something nice?"

I blinked.

He glanced up at me. "You know, sometimes I even know when not to push things. I can imagine that you're not exactly the jolliest gnome in the garden."

"…jolliest what in the what?"

He shook his head. "Just let me make you the damn sandwich."

I stared for a minute, then blinked once.

Finn… being nice. All of a sudden. That didn't seem natural. Not normal.

I sat in silence while he made me lunch… and that was probably one of the most surreal moments in my whole life. I am sure that Stork would have lost it if he had been there to see this.

I hardly even noticed the glances he kept darting my way as he worked, his brow furrowed as though he was thinking about something important. Like he was working out a problem.

OOO

Okay… I am not too happy with this one either, but it kinda introduced you to Piper's thoughts on things. I was kinda tired when I typed this, so my apologies. I hope it is mostly coherent.

The poll results:

Piper's floating – 41 percent

Aerrow's agitation – 33 percent

Finn's internal turmoil – 20 percent

Stork's paranoia – 4 percent

Junko's confusion – 0 percent

Next poll… I think it is time to give this fic a swift kick in the figurative ass. So the next poll shall be a choice of these PoV… and it will be quite narrow. The boys are going to start getting down and serious about the challenge in the next couple of chapters, and then I will open it up again to different ideas again.

So please vote! And review! I like reviews!

Thanks for reading this far.


	9. Finn, Problem Solver

**Finn**

Okay, so I'm not always the most helpful person in the world. It didn't mean that she had to look at me like I'd grown another head.

I sat there in the kitchen with Piper while we ate our lunch. And while peanut butter and jelly may not be the most awesome of meals, I can say with all certainty that I am an expert in making them.

At least, I haven't killed anyone with them yet, even though Piper was eyeing them with a worried look after I presented her lunch to her.

"Uhh… thanks Finn," she said, taking the plate. She peered at the sandwich doubtfully for a second, then looked at me. I was already wolfing mine down.

"You gonna eat?" I asked, after swallowing.

"Uh… okay." She took a tentative bite. Then another. "Wow. Not bad."

I couldn't decide whether to swell with pride or pout at the obvious relief she had in her voice when the thing tasted normal. I settled for a quick grin and a sarcastic, "Hey! My sandwich making skills happen to be right on par with my ability to rock out!"

"To tell you the truth, I was afraid of that." She said wryly around a mouthful of peanut butter, "But I was pleasantly surprised anyway."

I snorted a laugh and proceeded to kill my own sandwich in a few bites. I looked up again to see her watching me while she chewed.

"You know," I stated matter of factly, "that really creeps me out."

"What?" she looked confused.

I pointed. "Well, you're 'sitting' there," I said, holding my fingers up and doing the quote hands to emphasize the word 'sitting', "but your chair is over there," I finished, indicating the chair that she had gently floated away from. It was now at least a foot away from her, though she was still at the table. She sighed and stared over at the chair.

Before she could do anything, I stood and wiped the crumbs from my hands, then moved around the table to where she hovered over the ground. "So, can you really move at all?" I asked.

She shrugged, pulling her body into a standing position as she finished up the last of her food. "A little. I figured out how to use my staff to push myself around… but I've found out that I have to be really careful around drafts and open windows."

I laughed. "What, if I turn on the air conditioner too high you'll go flying all over? Cool!"

"No… not cool. What happens if the hangar door is opened and I get caught up in it, Finn? That's a recipe for disaster."

The thought sobered me. "Dude… that sucks. I guess you'll have to have someone with you all the time from now on, at least til its over with, huh?"

She sighed, drooping. "Great."

"Hey, it wont be that bad, will it? Just think, every single day you'll wake up to be escorted by either me or Aerrow! Its not like he and I really have much else to do, after all."

Piper seemed to become even more grumpy. "Just what I need…"

"Aw, come on, Piper. It wont be that bad!" my eyes widened as I got a mischievous idea, "So… _can _you move if you were stuck in the center of the room without your staff?"

She shrugged. "I think I could probably figure something out."

"But… you're kinda frictionless right now, right?"

She eyed me warily, giving a cautious nod.

"Sweet!" I exclaimed. I advanced towards her.

"Finn… what are you doing?"

I snagged her waist from behind with both hands and started steering her out the door. I laughed low in my throat. "Just trust me Piper. I wont do anything bad, I promise."

"Finn! Let me go! Hey!" She squirmed, but she couldn't really do much. Every time she reached for a door way or the wall, I simply shifted her easily away from it. She was surprisingly easy to maneuver. "Finn, this isn't funny. What are you doing?"

"Just wanna see something." I replied. I walked at a steady pace, holding her gently in front of me. My hands felt warm on her waist. She stopped struggling as much and looked at me over her shoulder.

"You better not be doing anything stupid."

"I'm not."

"Or crude."

"Give me _some _credit," I protested.

"And you damn well better not be trying to pull something stupid like playing keep away with me as the ball."

"Well, now, there's an idea." I muttered just loud enough for her to hear. I was rewarded with the stiffening of her back and her hands flying to mine as though to pry them off of her waist.

"Hey now, Piper. Remember, I promised to be good. And if you want me to just leave you alone… well, I could just walk away right now if you like."

She stopped and stared around. By then we had made it to one of the store rooms and we were standing in the center of it. There was nothing around, and since there was no air vent in there, if I left…

Well, she'd be in for a very boring night.

She huffed a sigh. "Fine. What are you doing anyway?"

I chuckled. "Well, I'm going to have to leave you right here for a second anyway. I need to get something out of here."

"No!" She said quickly.

"But I need both hands to find it. I'll be back, I promise."

"I just… no. Let me hold on to you if you cant keep a hold on me." She asked in a small voice. "…please?"

I blinked, taken a little aback. She seemed to be a little bit flustered. Maybe even scared. That didn't fit her. "Uh… okay. Sure. Here, lets to this…"

I released my grip on her waist and turned around so that my back was facing her. "Here, just grab my shoulders. That way you wont get in my way while I look."

She nodded her acquiescence and did as I suggested. "What _are_ you looking for, anyway?"

I shrugged. "You'll see."

It took a little more looking than I figured it would, but I did eventually find what I had come here looking for: A length of rope and a decently sized hunk of metal that had escaped from Junko's collection somewhere down the line. The metal whatsit looked kind of like a gumdrop shaped weight with a D-ring on the top. When I lifted it, it took a good bit of effort but not too much. It probably weight in between thirty and forty-five pounds. I tied one end of the rope securely to the ring and yanked on it for good measure. It didn't budge.

I grinned and dislodged Piper from my shoulders, rotating her back around so that she faced me. I bit back a chuckle at the surprised look on her face when I reached my arms around her waist. Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Finn, what do you think-"

"Easy, Piper. Calm down." I brought the rope around her waist and tied it with an adjustable knot. "Here, see? I was just tying the rope. Its not like I was doing anything bad."

"…Oh."

It may have looked a little silly, Piper floating there with a length of rope going from the weight on the floor to her waist, but it looked satisfactory to me. "There. Now you have a way to move around and keep yourself still if you want to."

She looked down. Her toes still hovered about a foot off the deck. She tugged on the rope experimentally, drawing the weight up with a slight grunt. Then she swung it out in front of her.

It landed about six feet away, pulling the rope slightly. She moved forward a bit, then grasped the length of rope in her hands and pulled, hand over hand. Within a few seconds, she had joined the weight where it sat, anchoring her. She turned her eyes to me, a wondering expression on her face. "Finn, I do believe you actually did something smart."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well, _excuse _me. I'm not an idiot you know."

She sighed. "Okay, point taken. I know you're not an idiot Finn. And thanks for trying to help me. I really do appreciate this… I'm surprised I never thought of it before."

"Yeah, well… its probably not the going to get you around very fast, but I bet it beats floating away from the table at dinner."

"Yeah," she smiled. "Speaking of food, thanks for lunch. I would have gone hungry in my room if you hadn't shown up."

I shrugged, suddenly a little self conscious at the praise. That made me feel a little odd. Self conscious isn't something that I normally feel very often. "No problem. Hey, lets head back out."

She grinned and gathered up her new anchor. "You still move faster than I do, so would you mind helping me get out there?"

"Sure." I held out my arm and she took it. "Shall we?"

OOO

"Finn thought it up?" Aerrow asked, his voice full of disbelief.

"Yeah," I said pointedly, raising a brow. "I have my moments."

"Uhh… heh. Yeah." Aerrow replied sheepishly. "Sorry."

I shrugged. "No big deal. But at least Piper can get around on her own now."

"Yeah," Piper put in, "But we should still be careful about the hangar door, I think. It could still cause enough of a draft to pull me out."

Stork nodded. He was standing right behind Piper, eyeing both Aerrow and I with what looked like faint suspicion. Aerrow was looking at Stork and I in turn, a strange look in his eye. I couldn't identify it. Odd.

Stork tugged gently on Piper's elbow. "Are you sure you don't want to be checked for-"

"Stork. I don't have some weird illness."

"Just saying…" Stork muttered, his eyes darting to me with suspicion. "I think we might be having an outbreak…"

"Hey," I protested, feeling vaguely like someone had accused me of something, even though no one made any sort of statement to that effect. Maybe it was because Stork kept giving me the evil eye. "No one's infected with anything, Stork."

His eye twitched. "That's what you say…"

I blinked. "O…kay." After a moment, I just shook my head and put Stork and his weirdness out of my mind.

I turned to Piper again, a giant grin plastered on my face. "So, now that you can anchor yourself, wanna play tetherball? You can be the ball and Aerrow and I will be the players."

She smacked me on the back of my head. "Finn, my gratitude to you notwithstanding, I'm not going to be the butt of your jokes."

I grumbled. Aerrow hid a grin. Stork just eyed all three of us disapprovingly.

It was getting to be late by then. The sky outside was darkening and the first stars were winking into existence in between the clouds. I glanced over my shoulder, stifling a giant yawn. Piper looked like she was getting a little tired too, so I asked, "Did you want to head back to your room, Piper? Its been kind of a hectic day and all.."

She looked a little surprised at my question. "A little bit. And I don't know why, but some of these cuts are hurting like hell…"

I frowned. "Maybe you should get them looked at."

"Nah, I think there might just be a couple of splinters. Its not hurting back enough to warrant looking at them while we're all so tired. I'll see about them tomorrow, I think."

Shrugging, I asked, "Well, need any help getting to your room? I'm heading to bed now anyway, I think."

"Uh… sure. Thanks, Finn."

Piper seriously looked like she had no idea what to make of my attempts to be nice today. Hell, even I was having a hard time with it. I mean, I cant tell you how tempting it was when I was carrying her to the supply area… what I _really _wanted to do was find someone to play keep away with, using Piper as the ball. It would have been so cool. I mean, when would I ever get another chance like that?

I gently grasped her around the waist again, ignoring the way Aerrow's nose flared when I set my hands on her. His face flushed a little red, and I flashed him a grin before guiding Piper towards the living quarters with my hand at the small of her back.

You know… Piper has a very nice figure.

Not that I noticed. I mean, she's my friend. My pretty, antagonistic, floaty friend.

OOO

I helped her settle in as much as I could before heading to my own room. She had given me a sleepy thank you that tugged a smile to my lips but I left before she could see.

I do have a reputation to uphold, after all. Even though after this wager is over, I'll probably have ruined it with all the niceness I was perpetrating. I mean, I hadn't done something annoying on purpose in more than one day!

Well, except for maybe my silent antagonizing of Aerrow. What can I say?

Speaking of Aerrow, I was almost asleep when he came walking into my room. "Hey," I mumbled through my pillow, "Ever heard of knocking?"

"Finn."

"What?" I blinked blearily up at him.

"I just wanted to tell you something."

"Hmmph?"

Aerrow towered over my bed, forcing me to look up at him. "I just wanted to let you know… the game is on, Finn. I don't want you to do anything to hurt Piper. So I'm not going to give you the chance."

"Dude… what makes you think that I'm going to hurt her?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're one of my best friends, Finn, but I cant lie to you. I can tell that you think its just some game, but its not."

"I'm not treating it like a game." I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just giving you warning." He cracked a slight smile. "I'm going to win this."

Then he spun and walked out again.

Oh.

Oh hell no.

I stared at my closed door, listening to his footsteps as he walked away.

No way.

The game is _on._

OOO

Aha!

Well, I was a little uninspired during this one. I think it came out alright though, considering that I was having Finn act out of character on his own whim, which kinda made it in character… but not. I dunno. The point of this chapter was to get across the point that now the boys are getting serious. Fun!

Here's the poll results for this chapter. It was really close, actually. Only one vote difference between the two.

Finn – 52 percent

Aerrow – 47 percent

Anyhow, the next one will be in Aerrow's PoV, but the poll will be theme. Angst, humor, etc, etc. So go vote!

And review. Me likey reviews.

Thanks for reading, and I truly hope this one is actually remaining interesting. I am a little worried about this one, but I've gotten assurances that its still a good read. I dunno though. Is it worth continuing?


	10. Troubled Thoughts

**Aerrow**

Okay. I admit it.

I didn't know what to do.

Words of bravado aside, I couldn't come up with a single way to make good on my words to Finn from the night before. I meant every word, don't get me wrong. I fully intend on winning that bet… I think even if he decided to call it off….

I dunno. I think the whole competition aspect got to me. Maybe it was the fact that Piper would never be coerced into doing something against her will. If I did manage to win the bet… then that would mean that she wasn't _adverse _to the idea… right?

I scowled at my reflection in the mirror. I was standing in the bathroom, still in my PJs, trying to shave while my mind wandered off to places unknown. I had already managed to cut myself three times and I was barely halfway done. I rubbed my chin gently where I nicked myself. It wasn't done bleeding yet.

I wiped the spot of blood off on the undershirt I was wearing and applied the razor to my face again. Almost immediately, my mind wandered.

Would Piper be offended if I started acting forward? Would she even have a clue as to what I was doing? I didn't want to make any awkward situations onboard, but if I didn't win this bet, there was a good chance that Finn would make 'awkward' seem positively comfortable.

Seriously, what did Finn think he could accomplish? I had only ever seen he and Piper bicker when in each other's company too long. Up until yesterday, that is. I mean, she had actually smiled at him. And thanked him. And she didn't protest when he touched her.

I saw the way his hand caressed the small of her back when he helped her out of the room. But it didn't make me jealous or anything. Especially not the way she didn't seem to mind that his hand was right _there_.

And he had the gall to grin at me like he had gotten one up on me. My hand tightened on the razor and I winced when it delivered another twinge of pain to my face. I gritted my teeth and finished up scraping the bristles from my chin. I wiped my face with a towel, then inspected my handiwork.

Great. It looked like I had gotten into a fight with a psychotic barber and lost. I shook my head and headed out to the main part of the ship, consumed with the feeling that this day was already stacked against me.

OOO

The others were still asleep. I normally wake up a little earlier than the rest of the crew, unless Stork pulled an all nighters, as he was apt to do every now and then. He was absent from the bridge today.

I was up earlier than normal, even for me. I grimaced. It wasn't the best of situations. I mean, I didn't exactly want to be roaming the ship by myself with the whole mess of a situation on my mind. It would have been a lot easier on me if one of the others had been awake. At least I would have had someone to talk to.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and headed down the hallway that held our rooms. I passed Finn's room-his light snoring echoed through the door. Junko's room was next, and he was obviously enjoying his sleep just as much as Finn. His roaring snores bounded through his walls and reverberated around me. I winced and hurried on.

I knew where I was going, although I had no idea what I was going to do when I got there. I was heading towards Piper's room.

The door loomed up in front of me, harmless yet foreboding. There were no noises coming from behind it, but I didn't even know if Piper snored. I guess it's the sort of thing you'd expect us to know about each other, having been living with each other for so long, but I cant really remember the last time I saw Piper sleeping. Weird, huh?

I lingered there for a moment. I was tempted to knock and see if she was awake. If nothing else, it would give me someone to talk to. But if she was asleep and I had woken her up, I would probably end up feeling guilty. I frowned at the door for a moment more before I shook my head and turned back down the hallway. There was no reason to wake anyone up before they felt like being awake, after all. We weren't actively engaged in any missions, after all. This was a time for rest.

Damn Finn. It was his fault that I couldn't seem to make myself sit still.

I wasn't expecting to hear Piper's voice near my shoulder when I found myself moving toward the kitchen. It was like she appeared there all of a sudden and I had to keep myself from lashing out in surprise. "Hey! Aerrow, where're you going?"

She was floating, tethered to her little anchor, off to the side of the hallway. I hadn't even seen her when I walked by. She looked at me with a hopeful, lopsided grin on her face.

"No where in particular," I replied with a shrug. "Just woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep."

She groaned and rolled one of her shoulders in an exaggerated motion. "I wish I had that problem. I couldn't even fall asleep last night for more than a few minutes at a time. I mean, I know Finn meant well and all, and the anchor really does help… but it doesn't keep me from bumping into walls."

I winced in sympathy. "That's not good."

"Yeah, well… I guess I'll find a way to work it out. I always do, don't I?" She flashed her teeth in a smile. "And speaking of finding ways to get things done…. I'm glad you're here."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yeah. I have a few questions I need to ask you, and I was also wondering…. Would you mind helping me to the kitchen? I'm starving and its taken me almost twenty minutes to make it this far from my room since I'm trying to be quiet and not wake everyone up."

I laughed. "Sure thing." I stepped behind her and rested my hands gently on her waist, much like I had seen Finn do the night before. I could feel a blush rise up my cheeks, and I was thankful that she was facing away from me at the moment. She gathered up her anchor as we moved.

"You know," she said conversationally, "It was really good of Finn to help me out with the floating thing. I was really surprised that he seemed to care like that."

"Hmm." I grunted between my teeth. Call me petty, but I wasn't much in the mood for extolling Finn's virtues at the moment.

When we reached the kitchen I helped her to the table, which she gripped fiercely with both hands, and I dug out a pan and some ingredients. She watched me with mild interest.

"What are you making?"

"I was feeling like pancakes. Want some?"

"Oooo… that sounds good."

I smiled. "Good. I'm glad. Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

I had my back to her, but I could still hear the change in her tone from the jovial, friendly sound to that of something a little more worried. "I'm a little concerned about Stork, Aerrow."

"Why is that?"

"Well, he's acting… all weird. It started the same time…" she trailed off, but I knew what she was going to say. The same time that Finn and I started our… experiment.

"How can Stork be Stork without acting weird?" I asked lightly, pouring the first portions of batter on the hot griddle.

"Well… first off, I think he's become utterly convinced that you and Finn are being controlled by mind worms."

I laughed. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't really that. "Doesn't he say that about Finn at least once a week?"

"I've never seen him so serious."

"Don't worry about it, Piper. He'll get over it, he always does."

I could hear the frown in her voice. "I guess…but even I'm a little worried. I mean, you and Finn have been acting weird for days now… and it all coincided with Stork's kookiness too."

"You've said that several times before," I reminded her, flipping the hotcakes into a plate. I turned and handed the plate to her. "Eat up."

"Syrup?" She asked wryly.

I snagged it out of the cabinet for her, then came to sit down across from her with my own plate. I looked over at her while she drizzled the syrup over the pancakes.

"Piper," I began with a sigh, "I promise that I will tell you all about it when Finn and I are done."

"Why cant you tell me now?"

"Believe me, I wish I could. But the results of the… experiment would be thrown into question if I did."

She chewed thoughtfully and then swallowed. She gestured at me with her fork. "You realize that you just made me a lot more curious."

I grinned apologetically, but before I could say anything, the door to the kitchen burst open. Finn came prancing into the room with a blissful look on his face. "I smell pancakes!" he declared.

"Yeah, Aerrow made me breakfast." Piper said with a smile. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem," I replied, glancing at Finn out of the corner of my eye. His smile had faltered slightly, but he had recovered it quickly.

"What, no pancakes for me?" he asked good naturedly. Then he leaned over Piper's shoulder and snagged her fork out of her hand, as well as the syrup-slathered morsel that she was in the process of bringing to her mouth. He popped it into his own mouth instead. "Mmmm… tastes good."

"Finn! That's my food!"

"What are you gonna do about it?" he laughed as she tried to snag her fork back. "I move faster than you right now."

I saw a twinkle of laughter in her eye.

Finn's antics were funny to her? They just kinda annoyed me…

Then it dawned on me.

Finn was _flirting._

And Piper apparently _liked _it.

I scooted my chair out from the table before I could think. Then, leaning forward and pressing my hands on the center of the table, I executed a graceful flip and landed behind Finn, plucking the fork out of his hands before he even realized I was there. I ducked beneath his arm and laughed when he came around at me to try to retrieve the utensil. "Don't worry, Piper," I cried, chuckling while I evaded Finn, "I'll save breakfast!"

I could hear Piper's pitched laugh as I danced circles around Finn. He was enjoying himself too, I could tell, but every now and then I saw an expression of what seemed to be a mix of frustration and puzzlement pass over his features.

Finn never practiced his hand to hand, so really, I have him beat hands down, so to speak. It didn't take too much effort on my part to wrest the fork away and make my way back over to Piper. I knelt with an exaggerated bow and presented the fork like a knight might present a sword. "My lady," I intoned gravely, badly mimicking the accent of Harrier of the Rex Guardians.

Piper laughed, plucking the fork out of my fingers. "What has gotten into you two today? Are you sure you don't want to tell me about the experiment? Whatever you're doing might be hazardous to your health!"

"You have no idea.." Finn muttered under his breath.

I stood, linking my thumbs into the waistband of my pants. "Nah, Piper. Surprisingly, we aren't doing anything nearly that bad… but I really should give Finn the credit he deserves. He was the one who thought up the whole experiment in the first place."

Finn raised a brow at me with a smile. "Yeah, but you know, Aerrow, the thing could never have been possible without you."

"Oooh," Piper groaned, "You two are driving my curiosity meter through the roof! You're going to tell me everything soon, right?"

"As long as it's a success, sure," Finn replied.

OOO

Around midday, Piper was looking pretty beat. She was tethered in the bridge this time, going over maps for Stork.

Stork was eyeing me suspiciously. I had been leaning against the table that Piper was working at, watching her progress. She was always so intense and focused… I envied her ability to completely let herself go into a task. I wish I could be like that.

Well, I suppose I am with some things…

As I watched, though, I noticed Piper's head drooping lower and lower toward the papers she had spread out. I could tell that the simple act of keeping her eyes open was pushing the limit.

"Hey," I asked, "How much sleep did you manage to get last night?"

She smiled tiredly, her eyelids already drooping. "Not much… remember, bumbing off of walls? I kept waking up."

"Huh. Well, I think you should try to sleep again. Maybe I can help you out or something."

"Mmm…sounds okay to me…"

I helped her to her room.

When we got there, I looked around. There wasn't much in the way of personal possessions in Piper's quarters, I noted with surprise. She was always fairly Spartan… I could respect that.

But that also meant that there wasn't much in the way of items to be used to either buffer the bed or tie her down even more snugly. She yawned tiredly. "Don't worry about it, Aerrow. I'm tired enough that it probably wont bother me much."

"No…" I said, "There's got to be a way. I mean, we cant have you dropping out on us. Especially if something happens where we need our navigation specialist…"

Piper's eyes were threatening to close on their own. She was hovering over her bed now, curled into the fetal position, looking ready to drop.

And looking at her, I had an idea. "Hey."

"Mmm?"

"If I try something, promise me you wont hit me."

"Mmm…'kay."

I took that for an affirmative. I climbed up onto her bed and leaned back. She hovered just above my lap by about two inches. Her back was to me. "Okay… don't hit me." I muttered.

Then I slipped my arms around her waist, drawing her back up close against my chest. Now she was effectively pinned in one spot. As long as I kept my arms around her, she probably wouldn't be moving too far.

"You okay with this, Piper?"

"…Mhmmm.."

I blinked. That sounded enough like an affirmative to me.

I leaned back against the wall, holding the floating woman tightly to me so she wouldn't wake up. The warmth of her back against me was comforting. The smell of her… something like ink and paper… it was…

…nice.

I liked it.

OOO

Okay… that was typed during another one of my 'trying not to fall asleep' episodes. I hope it measures up. I meant to have more Finn and less monologue in there, but it just didn't work out that way. And while I meant to go with the popular result of "Competition for her attention', I think I might have gone ahead and put in elements of all five choices into this one… sorry.

Poll results!

Competition with Finn for Piper's Attention – 47 percent

Drama with Stork's Paranoia and Finn's Confidence – 19 percent

Humor while trying to One Up Finn – 14 percent

Introspection on his Feelings – 9 percent

Angst about Burgeoning Feelings – 9 percent

Next poll… well, my brain is about friend for being too tired. This will be an easy poll.

Choose a PoV. Choices are in the profile.

I should be better rested tomorrow, so maybe the update wont suck as much. Thanks for reading, and please review and vote!


	11. Finn Helps Again

**Piper**

I didn't want to move when I woke up.

I yawned, my eyes still closed. I was warm and snug and I wasn't ready to be awake yet. Ever just had the urge to laze about all day after waking up? Well, that was how I was feeling. No reason to get out of bed. No reason to even open my eyes, right? Its not like we were going to be anywhere close to the next terra for a while yet, anyhow. Why waste what little 'me' time I had?

It took me the better part of a quarter hour to get around to opening my eyes. If I had less constitution, I might have retched at the wave of vertigo that washed over me when I did. I was still floating, apparently… And I bobbed gently in the air. There was something fundamentally strange about floating just above a given surface. I didn't know how long I might end up like this… but I doubted I would ever get used to it.

I stretched with a deep breath, glancing down the length of my body. But when I did that, I froze in surprise.

A hand was draped casually across my midsection. I blinked and followed that hand to its arm… then shoulder… then finally to the face of the individual who owned it.

Aerrow was leaning up against my headboard and looked to be in a light doze. All at once, I remembered the events just prior to my falling asleep. I had been so tired that Aerrow probable could have claimed that he was Dark Ace's twin and I would have agreed without batting an eyelash. I remembered feeling warm and stable when he had put me to bed, and grateful when he can made certain that I wouldn't drift away.

Well, unconventional as it was… it had worked. I had apparently hovered right here for the entire time I had been asleep. I glanced over at the clock that sat next to my bed.

It was only about four-thirty. I had slept for around four hours. But now… Well, after my nap, I was pretty awake and a little weirded out by waking up with Aerrow's arms almost embracing me.

Would he wake up if I moved his hands?

I didn't know… but I couldn't exactly just remain right there like that. I had things to do, after all. Stuff like finish up what I had been doing in the bridge with the maps… eating something for dinner… going to the bathroom.

Oh, yeah. My bladder felt like it was about to explode. Since the lab accident, going to the bathroom had become such a bother that I only did it when I absolutely needed to. I mean, come on. Its seriously not fair that women aren't equipped for precision aim like the guys are.

It wasn't like I was going to be able to really leave discreetly anyhow. And Aerrow and I are such good friends that there would probably be no real lingering weirdness over the touchy-feeliness of the current situation. I reached down gently and tapped his hand. "Hey."

My only response was a throaty grunt and a slight tightening of his fingers on my side. I stifled a giggle. It tickled! "Aerrow!" I said a little louder, shaking his arm.

Green eyes opened wide, startled yet still cloudy and dim from sleep. "Wha? Huh?" he asked, staring around quickly before settling his gaze on me.

"Wakey wakey," I said in greeting.

"What?" Aerrow asked. He reached his hands up to rub his eyes and noticed that his arms were wrapped around me. "Uh, oh… sorry." He blushed.

"Don't be," I replied with a grin, catching hold of his shoulder and using it as leverage to pull myself into a vaguely sitting position. "I feel a lot better now. Thanks to you, that is."

"Don't mention it." He released my waist and sat up, taking care not to bump me and send me flying off into space. "So.. uh.."

I smiled at his flustered expression. "Aerrow, calm down. Its alright that you were holding onto me, I was going to float away otherwise. So I'm grateful." I looked around and grabbed the weight that was tied to the end of my rope, which was still tied to me. "I think I'm going to go to the little girl's room."

"Need any help?"

I raised a brow at him. He grew a faint shade of red. "Help getting there, I mean.. not, uh… you know.." he trailed off and I couldn't help myself, I had to laugh at the embarrassed mire that he was creating for himself. If I didn't know better, I would think that he was nervous to be talking to me. He certainly didn't seem to want to make eye contact with me for some reason.

I stifled my laugh when it only seemed to make him even more flustered. Then, patting his shoulder in a good natured way, I saved him from having to stammer more nonsense. "I should be okay. I really appreciate the offer though. I need to do some stuff on my own though. If I don't, I'll get too used to depending on you and Finn and everyone else, and then what will I do? I don't want to become a total invalid."

He shrugged. "I don't mind helping out."

"I know."

I pushed myself from the bed, allowing him the chance to stand up. I blushed a little bit myself when I realized that I had just been hovering over him while we talked.

I floated my way over to the door and let myself out, followed closely behind by Aerrow. My bladder was screaming at me by this time, so I hurriedly made my way through the hallway, steadfastly ignoring his glances at me as I went. It was slow going, and I know that he was just itching to help me along, but come on. A girl has to have her pride. I cant just let the guys come riding to the rescue like the figurative knights in shining armor all the time, right?

So I did it myself. I was fine.

Besides, can you imagine the teasing I would have to listen to from Finn if it became common knowledge that our resident sky knight had to baby-sit me all the way to the bathroom? No thank you!

I reached the door in a reasonable amount of time… for an invalid eighty year old… but still, I did it on my own.

OOO

I wont go into the details, but several moments after my tiny triumph of making it to the bathroom, I emerged feeling quite refreshed. Let me tell you, taking a shower while you're floating in the air is quite a different experience. Not totally unpleasant, but strange nonetheless.

Either way, I was nice and fresh afterward. And totally surprised when I found Finn standing outside the bathroom door when I opened it, totally intent on my painstaking progress out into the hallway.

"Hey," he said, flipping his hand up in greeting.

"Hey Finn." I replied, my brow furrowed in concentration as I methodically swung my anchor in front of me, watching to make sure I wasn't going to hit anyone or anything, then towing myself to it. This was surely going to get old after a while, and my arms were already sore from the unnatural exercise.

I could feel his eyes peering at me as I passed. "Need any help?" He offered.

"I can do it," I said, forcing a smile. "I cant rely on everyone to do something as simple as move me around until this is solved, after all."

He hitched a shoulder in what looked like a careless shrug. "Just thought I would offer. Where ya been all day? Stork was starting to get worried. Said something about abductions or something like that. I didn't really pay attention, but sometimes he goes a little… wonky."

I chuckled. "Yeah, he does. But there's nothing to worry about. I had a hard time sleeping last night, and almost fell asleep on my feet." I saw him glance down, where my toes hovered over the deck, then look pointedly back at me. "Figuratively speaking," I amended in a playfully cross manner.

"So you took a nap?"

"Yeah. Aerrow was such a help. He held on to me to make sure I didn't go floating off and bumping into walls some more. That's what was keeping me awake last night… it was brutal."

"Oh… he did, huh?"

I raised a brow at the strange quality of Finn's tone. "Yeah… something wrong?"

"Nah," he answered quickly. "Its all good. Hey, you busy right now?" he changed the subject quickly.

"I was just going to go back over the maps in the bridge. Why? You need something?"

Finn blushed slightly when I glanced at him, and that made me do a double take. Finn? _Blushing?_

"Well," he said, his voice tinged slightly with what might have been self consciousness, had he been anyone but Finn, "I figured that maybe I could try to help you find a solution to your sleep… well, one that doesn't including needing one of us to sleep with you?" he finished in a slightly… _hopeful _tone…. Weird.

"That's really… nice of you Finn." I cocked my head at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" he said defensively. "Why do you ask?"

"…no reason. But sure, help would be pretty awesome right now. I don't want to impose on you guys so much and I think needing someone to watch me while I sleep is a little much."

He laughed. "Nah, its not a problem."

I eyed him, wondering if he was referring to helping me out… or helping me sleep.

OOO

We were sitting in one of the store rooms again. It was kinda surprising how handy Finn seemed to be around the old supplies. I mean, what did he do, go in here to tinker around with stuff when he got bored? If he did that, then how did he have the energy to generally make an annoyance of himself around the Condor all the time? I mean, no one can have that much energy.

I was floating off to one side, watching Finn dig around in the random boxes. Several of them had Stork's name on them, coupled with the words "Emergency Use Only" spelled out in large block letters. I grinned wryly as Finn seemed to totally disregard the warning and open them up anyway, rummaging through them as though he was at a flea market instead of the bowels of the ship.

"You know," I started, holding a finger up, "Maybe you should let Stork know that you want to go through his supplies."

"Nah. Besides, this is for the good of the team, right? Its not like he inventories these all the time, he doesn't have enough time in the day to do that. And he always loves the excuse to go out and replenish his emergency supplies anyway."

"Huh… good answer, I guess." I wasn't totally convinced, but I was mightily tired of not having a good night's sleep… and I had only had one night of bad rest.

I let the conversation drift off into comfortable silence. The only sounds was Finn's rustling and rummaging in the various crates and the creaks and groans of the ship as she moved through the air. It was actually a bit relaxing. So when I heard Finn give an excited, triumphant "Hah!" I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"What?" I asked, recovering quickly.

He pointed at a small box covered in labels with Stork's spidery handwriting all over them. "I found Stork's emergency kit for spontaneous loss of gravity!"

I could almost feel my brain grind to a halt. "His… _what?"_

Finn's grin spread to cover his whole face. "This has got to have something we could use."

"I'm still trying to get over the fact that he has something for such an occurrence…"

Finn hefted the small box up and brought it over to me. "Hey, if you carry this, I'll help you to your room and we can see if there's anything that we can do to fix your sleeping situation. Sound okay?"

"Sure."

OOO

I still couldn't believe it. Stork was really either crazy or a genius. I mean, who could possibly prepare for loss of gravity… while you were within the gravitational pull of the planet? I mean, the planet couldn't completely loose its gravity, right?

I winced. I could have sworn that I pulled a brain muscle trying to think around that.

Finn was in the process of pulling long strips of what looked like spot ties from the small box. Strangely enough, they looked kinda like the adjustable straps that you would find on a bra.. but I refrained from saying so to Finn, guessing at his reaction to that. Instead, I simply watched him from one side of my bed while he sat on the other. "So what is this supposed to do?" I asked.

"Well… looks like these can attach to the walls with these little hooks." He held up a hook that looked like it could be stuck to the wall via the small patch heavy duty adhesive that was smeared on the opposite end. He peeled the covering off of the adhesive and plunked the hook against the wall, about the same level as where I tended to hover over the bed.

It stuck. He tugged on it, after a second.

It wouldn't move.

"Okay…" I said slowly. "Now what?"

"Watch this." He hooked one of the adjustable straps to the connection on the wall.

"Ok… but I'm not tying that to my arm or anything. That would get to be too much of an annoyance. I would rather sleep and bump into things than lose circulation."

"Hey, hey, I'm not done."

He reached into the box and pulled out several more of the hooks and lines, attaching them to the wall in much the same manner. Then he attached a few more to the floor at the side of my bed while I looked on in interest. He silently held up a finger to forestall my questioning glance, then pulled out a thick, comfortable looking grey sleeping bag.

"This," he said proudly, "is what you are going to sleep in. Look." He attached the sleeping bag to the straps he had previously attached to the walls. It made it so that the bag was tethered to the wall all along its length. Then he attached the tethers that went to the hooks on the floor to the other side of the bag.

I blinked.

It looked like it might actually work.

"Wow…"

Finn grinned proudly. "Told ya. I can do anything." His already huge, self satisfied grin widened. "Want to try it out?"

"Sure," I agreed. I pushed gently off of the wall and sent myself floating towards him. I guess he wasn't expecting that, because all of a sudden I found myself plowing into his chest by accident. "Uh… oops. Sorry Finn."

He had automatically caught me by the shoulders when I bumped into him. I glanced up, expecting a derisive look or a sarcastic comment, but instead I just saw clear blue eyes staring down at me, wide and displaying a strange quality that I would hard put to put a name to.

He froze for a moment in that position.

"Uh… Finn?" I squeaked. The look he was giving me was strange.. made me feel kinda strange too.

At the sound of my voice, his fingers flexed ever so gently on my shoulders, sending weird tingles through my skin. He quickly dropped his hands from my shoulders and cleared his throat. "'S'okay. Lets see if this is gonna work," he said thickly.

Was it my imagination, or did he let his hands slide down my arms on purpose when he let me go?

Just my imagination.

"Okay," I said slowly, shaking my head. This floating thing must be getting to me. I knew that Aerrow and Finn weren't acting strange all of a sudden… it must just be me.

He held up the sleeping bag and I tried to angle myself so that I could get into it. Its not as easy as it sounds. Normally, when you do that sort of thing, you are only moving on two planes… I was operating on three. So it wasn't easy, okay? Give me a break.

By the time I had actually managed to get most of my body into it, we were both laughing at my antics and his semi clumsy attempts to assist me, normally resulting in both of us getting tangled in the lanyards attaching the bag to the wall, or getting in each other's way. I had just gotten myself fully into it with Finn 'helping' by trying to stuff me into the bag with my pillow, when I had to stop laughing in favor of gasping for a good breath. Finn's laughter faded too as he endeavored to take in a decent lungful of air. I glanced at him from inside the bag and snagged my pillow. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"Oh, really?" he asked.

"Yeah. You know, every now and then you can actually be funny, Finn."

"Oh, that's a bit below the belt, isn't it? I'd be careful right now if I were you, you know."

"Why?" I asked defiantly.

Then I felt his fingers dig into my sides, and lost myself to hiccupy laughter.

"Not fair!" I cried, trying to free my hands from the folds of the sleeping bag in order to retaliate, but he was too quick for me. One of his arms wrapped around my midsection, effectively trapping my arms against my sides while his other hand continued to torture my ribs.

When I started having trouble breathing, he eased up on the tickling, but still kept my hands trapped. He grinned at me, his face only inches from mine. "Now you have to say 'Finn is the greatest'."

"What?" I screwed up my face. "When did it go from you helping me out to me having to say uncle?"

"About the same time I got you completely trapped." He replied without missing a beat. His grin was infectious, and in the back of my mind, I was wondering what the hell I had gotten into me. This wasn't like Finn to be so endearing… and it wasn't like me to accept it so easily.

"I don't think so."

"I'll tickle you again…" he let the threat hang in the air and even though he didn't actually tickle me, I coughed a giggle before clamping my lips shut. I raised a brow at his smiling blue eyes.

"What's gotten into you, Finn?" I asked, finally, trying to ignore the grin that was trying to tug at my lips in an attempt to look serious.

He blinked at my question. Then he looked thoughtful. It was a little fascinating, watching the different emotions flit over his face. When you slow down to look, Finn really does have a very expressive quality to his face…

As I was musing on that, I watched thoughtfulness, confusion, uncertainty, and frustration pass through his eyes and he got very quiet. Then he blinked… and when he opened his eyes again, he was watching me intently, that strange emotion that I couldn't quite place lurking in the blue.

The room was suddenly very quiet, except for the breathing from both of us… and I could feel the movement of his chest through the blanket more than I could actually hear it. His eyelids sunk low until his eyes were half closed, but he was still watching me.

Silently.

He leaned forward… my mind hit a rut.

What?

What was he…?

OOO

I know that last bit seemed a little out of character… but I kinda got caught up in it. And y'all got a little bit of a longer chapter this time, too. I'm just sitting here on watch at my command, so I have nothing but time to write and a computer terminal that would go to waste, otherwise. I think I shall drabble next…

Okay, I'm so evil. So now I have set it up to end the story…. BUT! NO!

It is not ready to end yet! But it is getting to crunch time! But we shall need to address a few things first!

Such as, where the hell is Junko! We need more Wallop in this fic. So it cant end yet!

Stork! His paranoia! His stuff that Finn keeps messing with! What will he do to 'rid' his friends of the mind worms?

Aerrow! I mean, that'd be giving him the shaft, right? We cant just do it like that! We need more angst, more competition, more humor! So it cant end yet!

Radarr! ...where is he, anyway?

The poll results from this chapter:

Piper – 52 percent

Finn – 21 percent

Aerrow – 8 percent

Stork – 8 percent

Junko – 4 percent

Radarr – 4 percent

As for the next chapter… it will be from Finn's PoV. But the next poll shall be…. Plot device! Yes! Go vote now!

I'm getting back in the vibe for this fic. And I apologize if that was out of character… I hope it was satisfactory anyway.

Thanks for reading and please review!


	12. Revelations

**Finn**

I don't know what had come over me, but I was just entranced by Piper all of a sudden. One minute we had been playing around, getting stuck in the lanyards of the sleeping bag, wrestling around, and the next moment I was staring down at her in a breathless haze. It was a strange moment and I think…

I think I almost kissed her. Or… well, I would have, if it hadn't been for the door suddenly opening with a resounding thud. "Hey, Piper, I-"

Whatever it was Aerrow was going to say died in its delivery. In the split second when Aerrow had opened the door and started in, I had snapped straight up, away from Piper and she still remained there in the sleeping bag, her eyes wide and looking a little confused. Aerrow looked between me and her, backpedaling a step. "Um… uh.. did I, uhm…"

I popped up to my feet. "There you go, Piper," I said loudly. "Problem solved. Now you don't have to have a bedtime buddy. Now you owe me lunch." I carelessly rested my hands on my hips. Aerrow darted a glance at me, then looked back at Piper.

She was still floating, huddled up in her sleeping bag. I could see her rolling her eyes when she replied, doing her best to affect the same nonchalance that I did. It didn't quite work but she still managed to talk around her embarrassment. "Whatever, Finn. Thanks for the help though. I really… appreciate it."

"Uh, good." I replied. Aerrow raised a brow and glanced at me again out of the corner of his eye. He looked a little… I dunno… I would say concerned, but I don't think that word does justice to the expression on Aerrow's face. He looked really…

Worried?

I dunno. But something kept me from throwing around my normal obnoxious grin this time.

We all fell silent, and even I could tell that this was an awkward moment. "Well," I said uncomfortably, "I need to go bother Junko. I think I heard him say something about trying to surprise us with dinner tonight… and no one wants that"

Aerrow and Piper hurried to chorus their agreement and the sound of their voices followed me out of the room. As I left, I heard Aerrow beginning to talk to Piper, though his voice was low and indistinct. I couldn't hear what he was saying… but I guess it really wasn't my business anyway.

I leaned on the wall when the door had closed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. What had almost happened in there was pretty intense, at least, to me. I had definitely not seen that coming. I mean, I don't even remember making any conscious decision to lean in like that. I just remember looking down and seeing her face in the shadows of the sleeping bag. She looked so carefree at the time, and we were getting along. That doesn't happen normally… And she had a genuine smile on her face. Her eyes were twinkling while she laughed.

I almost kissed her.

And she… didn't object. I dimly recalled her voice asking me what I was doing, and then her eyes, then… her face changed. Became thoughtful. I could feel her breathing speed up when I leaned over her. Even though I was moving more or less on instinct, she hadn't looked adverse to the idea, had she?

Not that I could recall..

I shook my head and pushed off the wall, heading toward the kitchen. It didn't dawn on me until I had walked in to see Junko and Stork… that I had almost won that bet.

Strange how that would be one of the last things I thought about at this particular moment.

OOO

"Finn!" Junko called as I stepped through the door, "You're just in time! I'm going to cook-"

"No!" I shouted, surprised to hear my yell echoed by Stork. Junko kinda drooped at the outburst. "Its okay, Junko. I was feeling like having sandwiches tonight. I'm not in the mood for anything too heavy…" I crossed my fingers, hoping that he would buy my tactic.

He did. His face lit up with a smile. "Oh, good. That's okay. Its getting kinda late to be cooking anyway, right?"

I caught Stork's relieved sigh and I turned to grin at him, but he flinched away from me when I did. He had his brows all furrowed and he was watching me with a guarded expression.

"Hey, Stork, you okay?" I asked.

He didn't reply for a moment. He sized me up as though he was deciding whether or not to bolt… and then he simply gave me a wordless nod and slinked out of the kitchen.

I turned to Junko. "Okay. That was weirder than usual. Any idea what his problem is?"

Junko shrugged. "No clue."

I turned to the cabinets and started pulling down the bread while Junko raided the fridge for the cold cuts and cheese. We took all of our scavengings to the table and proceeded to happily create the most impressive of sandwiches that we could, causing a monumental mess in the process.

"Where ya been hiding yourself, buddy?" I asked amid the flying cuts of salami and wayward arcing of the mayo.

Junko shrugged as he endeavored to tame his monstrosity of a sandwich by smushing it into submission with a slice of bread. "Seems like things just decided to break down all of a sudden. Been workin'."

I finished up my own sandwich preparation and sat back to admire it. It was a masterpiece of tasty art. You know… sometimes you just need to stop and appreciate true perfection.

"Finn.. that's never going to fit in your mouth."

"Will too!" I frowned at Junko.

"I don't think it will even fit in my mouth."

"Don't mock the sandwich!" I exclaimed. I picked the thing up… it _was _pretty big… and began to try to eat the thing while Junko watched in pure fascination.

I was probably about a quarter of the way through it when the door to the kitchen opened again. Aerrow stepped through and his eyes widened, taking in the mess of the kitchen and the way that Junko was staring at me, captivated, while I devoured a sandwich the size of my head. "Uh…. Finn?"

"Muh? Mmmphoommo fommo." I replied, mouth full.

He stared at me. "I'm not even going to pretend I understood that."

I forced a swallow before putting the food down. "What'cha need Aerrow?"

"Uh… what are you doing?"

"Well… I _was_ eating."

"Heh. Well, I need to talk to you real quick, if you don't mind, Finn." He wore a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He looked pointedly at me, then the door. "It wont take long."

"Uh… okay, dude." I said. I stowed my meal away in the fridge and slapped Junko's on the shoulder as I left. "Don't eat my sandwich, Junko!" I called back.

I followed Aerrow to the living quarters, waving to Piper when we passed her on the bridge. She wore a faint blush on her cheekbones, and that made my face burn a little too. I remembered that weird couple of moments from earlier in sharp detail.

Aerrow's posture spoke of tension. He held himself tight and coiled, like a spring waiting for the right moment to release. He led me to his room. It was in the back of the spaces. It was the largest that the ship had to offer, so naturally it went to our leader.

As soon as we had entered the room and the door was safely shut behind me, Aerrow turned around and pinned me with a stare that looked far from happy. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and I could see how his fists were clenched. He wasn't wearing gloves right now, so his fingernails were digging deep into his palms. All the angles of his body screamed agitation.

I got the feeling that now was not a good time to try to crack a joke.

As a matter of fact, I got the impression that Aerrow was trying to keep himself in check and was managing to do so… barely.

I wondered briefly to myself what had gotten him so spooled up. I didn't want to say anything though… he looked pretty tense.

After a moment of silently glaring a hole into my head, he let a breath out through his teeth. It sounded like the whistle of a boiling kettle.

"Uh… Aerrow?" I started hesitantly, unsure of what was going on in that mind of his.

"Piper thinks you almost kissed her." That all came out in a rush.

I raised an eyebrow. Aha. That was why he was acting upset. "Well…"

"Did you?"

"I guess."

I could have sword his eyes narrowed ever so slightly and his jaw clenched tightly. He flexed his fingers against his palms. "But you didn't."

"No…" I replied in a wary tone. "The bet's still on…"

"No."

"What do you mean?" I asked, surprised. "Unless you want to concede defeat," I continued, unable to stop my mouth before it went and tried to get me into trouble.

Aerrow's hands flexed again and he looked as though he was actively trying to keep himself calm. This was strange. Aerrow's the laid back one who always keeps the rest of us out of hot water. I don't think I had ever seen him like this before… and really, it was kinda scary, when you think about it.

"I'm not conceding defeat," he gritted out. "I'm giving you the chance to walk away."

I frowned. There was no way I was going to walk away from this. "Dude, Aerrow. I'm not quitting."

"Why Finn?" He all but shouted at me, "Its not a game! You're going to end up hurting someone!"

"Really?" I asked with a significant glance at fists which seemed to be straining against his will. He really looked like he was about to hit me. "I'm not the one who's acting completely contrary to his character, Aerrow. Look at yourself."

He took a deep breath. "This isn't some funny game that you can just laugh off, Finn. Piper's feelings-"

"Piper has no clue about it! Its your feelings that you're worried about right now, isn't it?"

His answering grimace was all I needed. "You want me to walk away right now because you're afraid that Piper might choose me over you!"

Well… that did it. If the tension in the room had been thick before, it was as dense as a metal crushing cloud now. There was silence in the room, aside from the ubiquitous humming of the ship as it moved us steadily through the sky. Aerrow stared at me in shock, and I stared back at him with an expression of defiance. Finally, I broke the silence again.

"I cant walk away from this Aerrow."

"Its not a game, Finn."

"I know that."

He sighed. He rubbed his forehead wearily. "This has the potential to mess us up bad."

"Why?" I asked sarcastically.

"Because!" he snapped, "I like Piper! A lot! Okay? Happy?"

I was a little taken aback. I mean, of course I had always had my suspicions, but never really knew-or cared to know-whether they were true or not.

Aerrow flopped down onto his bed and rested his forehead on his hands. I stood there for a second, watching him. I shifted uncomfortably. Suddenly, he spoke up. "I don't know if she knows or even cares. But when I saw you two earlier… I mean.."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, all frustration. "I don't want her to be hurt, Finn."

"I know.." I mumbled. "I don't either."

"But you wont stop."

"….no."

"Why?" he demanded, shooting me another glare. "Why not?"

I sighed and shook my head. I turned to leave, my hand hovering over the button to open his door. I could feel his eyes daggering my back.

I looked over my shoulder at him. "Because…" I said quietly, finally recognizing the turmoil in his eyes….an emotion that I shared. "…I care about Piper too."

OOO

Okay… did that one fall flat to anyone else? It felt kinda flat to me.

OMG ANGST! Now we have a full blown love triangle. Next, we need the long lost lover and the guy in a coma. And we need the bastard brother or sister denied their inheritance, stewing in a storm of rage! Oh man, I should sell this as a soap opera script. I'd be rich.

I had actually wanted to get a little more humor in this part but the boys were feeling angsty today, I suppose. I am sorry it didn't come up earlier. The first half flowed like water, then when I started on the final half the pipes got clogged… oh well. I'm also sorry its so short. Only about 2000 words… but eh. At least I updates.

Oh ya, sorry about not updating yesterday. I was sleepy.

Poll results:

They get interrupted… by Aerrow – 45 percent

The power goes out, surprising them both into realizing the positions they are in – 16 percent

One of them realizes the absurdity of the situation – 16 percent

Junko tries to cook, causing a fire alarm when he burns something… - 12 percent

They get interrupted… by Radarr. – 8 percent

Wow, you guys really want Aerrow to face some turmoil, don't you? Goodness, you people are mean.

As for the next chapter's poll… We'll go with time of day. Each choice will be paired with a character, but as I have been doing lately, put your character of choice in the reviews and I will take it into account.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your patience in my update hiccups.

Review!


	13. Temptation

**Piper**

"Radarr! What's gotten into you?" I yelped when I felt the scrabbling of tiny, sharp claws racing up my spine. I twitched and twisted around spasmodically until the little creature found a perch on my shoulder, one of his arms hooked around my neck while he brought his head around to peer into my face. He chattered excitedly at me, and I found myself wishing I had Stork's affinity of understanding his body language. As it was, I knew it was very odd for Radarr to be out and about without Aerrow close behind. Those two never went anywhere without each other, really.

Then again, it was also pretty weird that I was out here by myself in the twilight hours of the night. What can I say? After that little stunt that Finn almost pulled earlier today, I couldn't really sleep. I mean, my mind was racing. Even now, hours later, I still couldn't believe it.

Had he nearly kissed me? Was that my imagination?

I knew one thing for certain. The guys were really acting weird. Well, Aerrow and Finn, for one. And Stork, too… come to think of it, I hadn't seen much of Stork in the past few hours. It would probably be a good idea to check up on him sometime, I guess. Who knew if he was going to go all paranoid on us all and do something crazy? Not that he had really ever gone totally cuckoo before… most of the time, his weird predictions had some sort of merit.

To tell the truth, lately, I had begun wondering if he wasn't halfway right. About the guys, I mean. They really were acting weird… But something like mind worms? Hah.

Right.

…hmmmm…

"Radarr!" I protested again as he tugged on my collar. "What is it?"

In reply, he shimmied down my arm and leapt onto the desk. His landing scattered the few crystals that were lying out, dropping a couple of them to the floor. I cringed at the racket he was making and almost scolded him..

But I stopped just in time. My lab was still a wreck and yelling at Radarr for moving the mess around a little would accomplish nothing. Finn and Aerrow had tried to put it back together as best they could, but not much could really be done without my supervision aside from sweeping up the floors and righting the furniture from where it had fallen. And don't get me wrong, they had done all that. They had also left all my crystals out where they had found them, and I suspected that they really didn't want to touch them and risk having a similar accident happen to them as what happened to me.

I glared down at my feet. They still hovered a good bit over the deck. I sighed, almost forgetting Radarr and his earnest looks. "What I wouldn't give for a leach crystal right about now…" I sighed.

Radarr glared up at me and snagged my right arm. "What, Radarr?" I asked again, slightly annoyed. "Why don't you go play with Aerrow or something? Or go to bed? Its late." I looked out the window in my lab at that comment. It was dark outside and the stars were winking to life as the sun disappeared over the horizon.

At my mention of Aerrow, Radarr's ears fell flat against his head and his head drooped down. He let out a sort of keening wail that was high pitched but melancholy all the same, hunching his shoulders pitifully. His eyes grew large as he stared up at me.

I stared back. "What's wrong? Is Aerrow okay?" If something bad had happened, then I knew that Radarr would probably have whipped the whole ship into action but his behavior still made me nervous.

The little blue guy tugged on my hand and motioned to the door. I guess he wanted me to follow him. "Okay.." I muttered with a sigh. I really just wanted to be alone right now… but I couldn't really ignore Radarr when he was so worked up.

I followed him out and down the hall, completely at a loss as to where he was going. Every now and then he glanced back over his shoulder to make certain that I was still following him, and each time I gave him an encouraging smile. It was hard to act upbeat when he was so obviously troubled, but since I never really had any luck with guessing what was on his mind, I just had to wait for him to show me.

You can imagine my surprise when he led me straight to my room and stood there waiting for me to open the door, shifting nervously from foot to foot. I raised an eyebrow. "Radarr, I don't think Aerrow is in my room. If you need me to talk to him, we need to go over to his room. He's probably in bed right now, just like everyone else."

Radarr shook his head emphatically and chirped at me again, pointing to my door.

I shook my head. Whatever… if I humored him then maybe I could get some more moping done in my lab before the guys wised up to it.

Hey, sometimes I just need to mope around. And my lab was almost in pieces after a stupid accident.. so give me a break. I had plenty to be moody about, even when you took the rest of the team's weird behavior out of the equation.

Once we were inside my room, Radarr scampered excitedly across the floor and bounded up onto my bed. "Hey!" I protested, "I just made my bed!"

He paid me no mind. Instead, he reached beneath my pillow and fished out what looked like…

No way…

It couldn't be… but…

It was.

Radarr held out a notebook to me. When I took it in my hands and looked down at it, I knew exactly what it was.

Aerrow's name was written in the center of the cover in his typical neat, blocky script. Underneath his name were the words "Wager Log".

I frowned. Back when I first got hit with the floater crystal… didn't I overhear the two of them talking about some sort of bet? I remember Finn making some reference to 'winning' something… And I recognized this book. It was the one that Aerrow normally kept with him. Identical to the one that Finn had been carrying around, too.

Suddenly, I was consumed with a fiery curiosity.

I was pretty sure… I was holding the logbook of their mysterious 'experiment'. All I had to do was open it up…

I cant even begin to describe how bottled up I was starting to feel with the guys excluding me like they were. I mean, I know that just because we're all friends… well, it doesn't mean that they are obligated to share everything with me. Curiosity drove me to want to find out, though. I mean, I had tried to get them to tell me fair and square, right?

They hadn't wanted to. And the worst part is, what they _did _tell my only fueled the fire. I mean, Aerrow had said that if they let me in on it, the results would be skewed somehow.

Seriously, how lame an excuse is that? Just by someone else knowing about a hypothesis, it could be affected? I doubted that.

And here in my hands, I held the thing that could tell me each and every secret about their so called experiment…

Would it be so horrible to open it up? Maybe just read one page?

The temptation drew me like a moth to a flame.

It was so easy… all I needed to do was flip the cover open.

My fingers hovered over the cardboard cover of the plain notebook. Aerrow's neat handwriting taunted me. Tempted me.

Radarr stared at me from the bed, looking as though he was worried.

I frowned, self conscious all of a sudden. "Why are you bringing this to me?" I asked. "Isnt Aerrow going to be missing this? He doesn't seem to let it out of his sight."

This question brought on a flurry of pantomiming… long story short, I got the gist of what Radarr was trying to get across. Apparently, Aerrow was acting weird and moody and Radarr wanted to know what was wrong. I guess Radarr doesn't read as well as he fixes skimmers, so he needed someone to help him out. And Stork was fairly useless and Junko… well, Junko could read, but we were lucky to get him to hold the paper right side up.

So Radarr had brought me the only thing that he could comprehend as coinciding with Aerrow's weird behavior; his journal.

I sighed. "You know, Radarr… I would kill to read this."

He nodded enthusiastically.

"I dunno. I don't know if it would be a good idea. I mean, Aerrow trusts us, you know? And believe me, I've noticed the strangeness too. I've asked him about it. Wouldn't he tell me if there was something wrong? I mean, we're best friends!"

Radarr cooed a soft whine. I frowned. "You know… maybe we should think on it a little more. I'm going to put this under my mattress. Its getting a little late so maybe in the morning we can think on it a little more. I don't want to betray anyone's trust and… well, I never did get permission to read this… soo…"

Radarr drooped and fussed with my blanket. I held my hands out to him. "I promise, come find me tomorrow morning and we'll think about it some more, okay? Here, let me get you back to Aerrow's room. We should all get some sleep."

He dully nodded his ascent and allowed me to set him up on my shoulder. Then, turning, I began the painstaking task of using my anchor to pull me out the door, down the hall, and to Aerrow's room.

OOO

I was right when I guessed from Radarr's pantomiming that Aerrow was asleep. I knocked loudly on the door, only to be greeted with silence. I gave another round of sharp raps to his door, listening intently, before I heard the rustle of bedclothes and a muffled, "'S'open."

I took the invitation and walked inside, leaving the door open to illuminate the room just a little with the hallway lights. The interior of the room was dark, slightly softened by the window that he had left open to the darkening sky. It was only about nine or ten in the evening, but Aerrow had apparently crashed at least an hour or so ago.

He propped himself up on one elbow when I walked in, his other hand up to his face where he was rubbing his eyes and blinking at the sudden appearance of light. I almost stopped short at the sight of him.

Around the ship, we are very comfortable with each other. Its not strange for the guys to wander around shirtless in the mornings, just like its not a weird sight when I stumble to the bathroom at the start of the day wearing a tank top and shorts. Its just something you tend to get used to when you live on top of four other people… well, five, counting Radarr.

But for some reason, the way that Aerrow sat, blinking blearily at me from his bed with his blanket trying to fall from his lap struck me as…

I dunno. Vulnerable?

Yeah.

It was kinda cute.

He was wearing a set of pajama bottoms with… you guessed it… a print of the Storm Hawks emblem all over it. I saw his uniform folded neatly over the back of his chair, his boots stowed under his bed.

Really, the guy was almost a neat freak. Nearly military precision with almost everything he did.

….right down to the writing in the notebook in my room..

My face burned slightly at the guilty though of that notebook sitting there under my pillow, its owner unaware of its whereabouts.

"Piper? Ev'thing alright?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep. I jumped with a start when he spoke, his voice jarring me out of my guilty memory.

"Y-yeah. I was just coming to see how you are doing." I replied.

He looked confused. "I'm okay.. a little tire, but that's because its.. "He looked at his clock. "Ten thirty? I only fell asleep a couple hours ago…"

"Yeah. Sorry to wake you up. Radarr came and found me.. I guess he got locked out or something when you went to bed," I lied. Aerrow frowned.

"Weird… coulda sworn he was here when I laid down.." He trained his eyes on me, blurred with sleep but the green still managed to be shocking even in the wan light. "Are _you _okay, Piper?" he questioned, his tone becoming a tad concerned.

I blushed. That was the same tone he had used when he walked in earlier that day… when Finn had been leaning over me with that strange look in his eye.

When Finn has almost kissed me.

After Finn had excused himself, Aerrow had asked me much the same question, in much the same tone. Almost like he was worried that something had happened between Finn and I. He had stopped just short of asking me for a play by play of Finn's whole visit.

It's kinda touching, having someone go so protective over me like that. I mean, its not like I couldn't have handled Finn myself, but it felt nice to know that Aerrow was there if I needed his help.

I have to admit… the look in Finn's eyes had made me breathless. I mean, I was never the type of girl to have guys falling all over themselves, and when he had looked at me then…

As much as I hated to admit it, the expression he wore had made my heart beat a little faster. Made my breath come a bit quicker.

Made me feel almost… special?

I know, I know. _Finn, _of all people. But still, it feels nice sometimes… well… to be seen as a girl, I guess.

"Piper?" came Aerrow's voice gently. Again, I was snapped back to the present. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

During my little trip down memory lane, he had scooted to the edge of the bed and swung his legs over the side so that he could train his attention on me.

All my thoughts of being seen as a female, rather than as 'one of the guys' decided to take that moment to backfire on me. I mean, Aerrow's a good looking guy, and the expression on his face right now was one of concern and…

Something else. Something that looked frighteningly similar to what Finn had displayed earlier. The same thing that caused me to have butterflies in my stomach…

I blinked. "Oh. Uh, Radarr. I came to bring Radarr back here." I was close enough to hand the furry blue animal over to Aerrow, so I did. As I leaned over and passed Radarr over, Aerrow's hands touched mine.

Now, that wouldn't normally be a big deal, but when they brushed against my fingers, they lingered for a moment, before sliding gracefully down to my fingertips, then relieving me of Radarr's weight.

I glanced up at him, and was surprised to see his eyes watching me over blushing cheeks. He looked away, busying himself with situating Radarr down on the bed. "Uh… thanks," he said, a little gruffly. Then he darted a look at me from the corner of his eye. "Um… do you need help getting back to your room?"

I was all fluttery again, all of a sudden. "I… I think I should be able to make it alright. It wont take me long."

He stood, carefully placing the blanket over Radarr, who burrowed happily in its folds. "Nonsense. I'll take you to your room. You need to get some sleep, after last night. Hopefully Finn's contraption will help."

"Uhh… okay."

Aerrow gently placed a hand on the small of my back and helped me back to my room while I held my anchor, the warmth emanating from his bare torso serving as a reminder of how…

Well, how adorable guys are when they're tired and sleepy.

Once he had deposited me back in my room, he had lingered for a few moments as though he had something on his mind… but after a minute, he simply bid my a quick good night and disappeared into the hallway. I lay in my sleeping back, floating tethered to the wall. My mind, though tired, was racing.

How strange. Two guys who I have always considered my best friends in all the world.. and now, of all times, I was getting all fluttery and breathy about them both? I mean… After the way Finn acted this afternoon… Aerrow's awkward moments all throughout the day…

It was so weird.

I mean, was something going on?

And for goodness sake… Why did it make me feel so…

So…

Nervous?

OOO

Okay, there we go. Plot seems to be moving along a little more now.

It was a tossup between doing Finn's POV, or Piper's… and well, this chapter almost demanded to be done. Not to mention that Piper was paired up with Twilight, in any case.

Poll results!

Twilight (Piper) – 72 percent

Dawn (Aerrow) – 9 percent

Dusk (Stork) – 9 percent

Morning (Junko) - 4 percent

Afternoon (Finn) – 4 percent

The next poll will be… oh, I think it will have to be a choice of plot subject. Each will be paired with a character, blah blah blah, tell me who you would rather hear from in reviews, blah.

Also, just to address some of the assumptions people are making (don't worry, no spoilers)… as of this moment, right now, typing this, I have absolutely no idea which way this is going to go. No idea who will win. In fact, it is my intention that when I am ready to writ the grand finale, the readership polls will dictate the outcome. I predict that it will be an event worth waiting for, so I wouldn't be too surprised if it takes me a tad longer than my normal update speed to write the final chapter. We aren't there yet, though. I am shooting for an end to this story between 15 and 20 chapters, but who knows?

Also, I was getting complaints about Aerrow not getting enough fluffiness. I hope this tides you people over, and I promise a bit more Aerrow fluff later on.

And Radarr finally showed up. He wasn't in a coma, I swear!

Stork DOES have more purpose, I promise. The way you people are pulling the storyline is making it hard for me to work it in overtly, but I promise you'll like what he has up his sleeve when… he reveals it in all his paranoid glory.

Also, sorry a bit about the skips in my update schedule. I am in the middle of transferring to a new duty station so things are getting hectic. Also, a word of warning: Come June 2nd I will be offline for probably the entire month. I don't foresee this fic taking until then to complete though… but ya never know.

By the way, a special nod and thank you goes out to Madame Lady and Crimson Fox4 for letting me brainstorm, using them as sounding boards. If you haven't read their stuff (and review it too!) then get on over there! Now!

Also, since I forgot to credit Archer for the help with Piper's sleeping restraints, I extend my thanks now. It was in a review that s/he gave me the idea, and since you don't leave signed reviews, I couldn't reply to the review itself. (wags a finger) naughty naughty.

Anyhow, sorry for the long winded author's note. Please review. I love reviews. Especially constructive criticism. Also, if people could tell me what they particularly liked AND disliked about my writing… well, it helps me do a better job. (And I reply to all signed reviews, by the way.)

Thank you for reading!


	14. Internal Struggle

**Piper**

I had a hard time sleeping again that night… but not because of any physical conditions. Finn's contrived bed really did work for me, which was surprising since I rarely expect anything useful to come from him.

Its always a pleasant surprise when someone who is known for being a pain in the butt comes up with something that is actually workable, you know?

But back to my problem… the reason I couldn't sleep had nothing to do with any physical discomfort. Even the floaty feeling of vertigo wasn't really bothering me. I mean, I fly around with the guys on a skimmer. Its not like floating or flying really bugs me all that much. I'm used to the weightless feeling of being in mid air.

No, the problem I was having was the fact that the notebook was nestled right there below me, under my mattress. It was sitting there, primed and ready to be read. It was perfect too.. I mean, if it was Finn's book I could probably not even hope to be able to comprehend it. Finn's handwriting was so bad that I had long ago forbid him from updating the squadron record book, even when it was his turn to do so. It was almost like the guy wrote in his own language… and half the time I was convinced that he did that on purpose, just to get out of record duty.

But Aerrow… well, like I mentioned earlier, Aerrow's the picture of military precision. You wouldn't expect something like that from a typical guy, but… well, I guess he is anything but typical, huh?

Aerrow's handwriting was anything but messy. Sometimes I wondered where he learned how to write… because, to tell the truth, while the shapes of the letters were unmistakably masculine, there was a quality to his script that was positively _pretty._

And so very easy to read.

Not like Finn's writing. Or even Stork's spidery scrawl… I think the only person's writing that would be more simple to comprehend would be Junko's carefully printed boldfaced marks.

I fidgeted in my sleeping bag, my mind a mess of conjecture.

It was _right there._ Within reach.

I had that notebook right there… I could read it now and be completely filled in on why the hell the guys were being so strange. And I could get the up and up on their experiment too..

Because, really. A scientific experiment run by those two? Especially Finn, for crying out loud! I don't think I would trust him with a model volcano, let alone anything that demanded such secrecy!

And just think… I could prove to Stork once and for all that he was having some sort of baseless fear about those two. I sincerely doubted that there was anything mentally wrong with the guys, aside from Finn's normal stupidity that he exhibited every day.

Well… that's not that fair to say about him, considering the help he had been over the past few days. Aerrow too. They were both being helpful beyond what they normally were…

Weird..

I frowned into the darkness of my room.

All the strange behavior coincided with when I first noticed them carrying those notebooks around with each other… Could it have something to do with their experiment?

I mean, maybe they were doing some sort of behavioral study. Could they be trying to see what the reactions of the crew would be if they started acting slightly outside their natures? I wouldn't put it past Finn to try something that far fetched just for a laugh. Its not like it would take much abnormal behavior on his part to start stirring up trouble around here, especially with Stork.

I grimaced when I thought about Stork. He had been strangely quiet and illusive lately. He hadn't really talked to me much since I had rebuffed his theory of mind fungus, but what I had seen of him had left me thinking that he was being uncharacteristically quiet and… furtive, perhaps? I think Junko was the only one who wasn't really acting abnormal in any quantitative way. On the contrary, he'd pretty much been keeping a low profile for the past few days. In passing here and there he had mentioned to me about a failing generator and some other things that had decided to kick the figurative bucket. We had both laughed about how it was a good thing that all these things were breaking during our days of downtime as opposed to sometime where we were fighting and unable to spare the time or attention to fix all the parts of the ship that demanded it.

Truth be told, even Radarr was acting out of it. I mean… would he have come and gotten me like that if there wasn't really anything wrong? Radarr's instincts were usually spot on, to tell the truth. And he really had seemed worried about Aerrow.

I shifted around in my sleeping bag again. Looked over at the clock.

It was already getting pretty late. It was about half past midnight by now. All the guys would be asleep by this time of night.

The notebook screamed at me from its resting place beneath my mattress.

I shook myself.

It was so tempting… I hate not knowing things. I am sure that the guys knew what the secrecy was doing to me. Finn, especially. I bet that he did this just for the enjoyment of watching me squirm. And how did he manage to get Aerrow sworn to secrecy anyway? Aerrow's not the type to simply go along with Finn's plans. So maybe Finn had something over on him… or maybe…

Maybe Stork will give up life as a pilot and become a daredevil, I thought in disgust at the path my thoughts were taking. The way things were going, I was going to whip myself up into a frenzy and be unable to sleep for days upon days. I mean, it was just a notebook. Right?

It shouldn't bother me.

Its not like I was _hurt._ Or _offended _at the exclusion.

I mean, boys and their games…

I sighed.

By now, it seemed like everyone must be in on this. All except for Junko and me… Junko because he was still acting normal, and me because I obviously didn't know what was going on.

Even Radarr…

Why had Radarr tried to get me to read that journal anyway?

Hadn't Aerrow told me that if I knew the subject of the experiment, then the results would be skewed? I mean, what was that supposed to mean? How could I have such an effect on a hypothesis that I didn't even know anything about?

Maybe they didn't want my opinion or something. I mean, I tended to be right more often than the others when it came to things of a scientific nature. Perhaps they wanted to puzzle out whatever it is they're working on without the help of someone who would take all the fun out of it.

And they had promised that they would tell me after the experiment was completed. But what experiment would there be that would be so dependant on a person not knowing about it? I mean, if they would be able to tell me about it afterward, then what was the problem of telling me now?

Maybe they just didn't want me to answer it before either of them found the results out themselves…

And they didn't trust me to keep my mouth shut?

I mean, what was up with that?

My eyes stared unseeingly up to the dark ceiling. I was so far from sleep by now. I mean, the whole mess.. so confusing. And the answer to every question I had, I was convinced, was in the notebook that Radarr had brought me.

And I knew a thing or two about journals… you only write in journals at night, usually. Right before you head to bed. So it was a pretty good bet that Aerrow wouldn't be missing this thing until tomorrow night…

Which meant I had a whole day with it.

One whole day.

To do what?

I wont lie. I really, really wanted to read it. I mean… _really._

And would it be so bad if I did?

I mean, I had never been told not to read it, after all. Granted, I had never asked…

There were several things to consider, I supposed. I guess I might feel guilty about reading something I had no permission to read… even though I hadn't been forbidden to read it, either. But it was really childish of those two to insist on playing the 'no girls allowed' club card on me. I mean, what were we, five? We were all pretty much mature enough to deal with each other in all situations, right?

Its not like the contents of the journal would be life altering or anything, right? And even so, if it was, then they needed to let the rest of us know about it.

The night sky outside was starting to brighten slightly in the first false dawn. The night was stealing away from me, and with it, my chances at a restful period of sleep.

I wondered… maybe one page of the book. The first page. It might give me some clue as to why the guys were acting so weird.

Maybe I should get Stork…

But then again, Stork was acting weird too. Who's to say he wasn't in on this to some degree? He's probably flip if I told him I wanted to read Aerrow's journal.

Ugh… just thinking those words makes me feel a little bit… I dunno, sneaky? Underhanded?

Who reads someone else's journal? Especially someone who is close friends like us. It's a trust thing, really…

…kinda like how I wished he would trust me with something as big as this thing he and Finn were doing..

It's not fair!

And really. I mean, I kinda think I deserve a little bit of a peace of mind when it comes to this, by now. Both Finn and Aerrow were acting more awkward than they had ever been before and I really was starting to get worried. First with Finn nearly kissing me… then with Aerrow's timid touches to my hands and his constant blush. You'd think they were…

Nah.

I'd have to chalk all that up to the awkwardness of guys in general.

Before I knew what I was doing, the sleeping bag was unzipped and I was fumbling through the darkness, trying my best to keep quiet even though I knew that no one would be able to hear me moving about in my room even if they were awake at this hour. A glance at the clock told me that I had been sitting there languishing in my thoughts for hours… it was already almost two in the morning.

I drifted quietly down until I was beside my bed. Once I was able to stabilize my movements, I thrust my hand in between the mattress and the bed frame, feeling around for the shape I knew to be nestled there, waiting for me to take it.

I pulled the thin notebook out and sat there for a moment, running my hand over the smooth cover.

Did I dare?

This opportunity would probably not come again. And if I didn't take this chance now, then I would probably have to wait until Aerrow or Finn got tired of their little game and decided to enlighten me. I knew for certain that I didn't want to do that… not at all. I was far too fired up about what was in that book.

You know what they say about curiosity… I guess that is, and will always be one of my major downfalls. I always have to _know._

Besides. I could always just find out, then go on with life as it always had been, right? I mean, I didn't need to clue Aerrow or Finn in on the fact that I knew their secret. They would be able to continue their little smug game and I would be content with the knowledge that this book imparted to me. No one had to know.

Besides, their precious results couldn't be skewed just by having one more person know their game, right? No experiment was that fragile. The only way that my knowing what they were up to could have an effect on their experiment was if I was a control, or a test subject. And since I was never in on even the smallest part of this fiasco, I could hardly be involved, could I?

Though the papers were light, the book sat heavy in my hands. I would like to say that I was still wavering over it in my conscience, but that would be a lie.

I had already decided. My curiosity consumed the remaining doubts that I had.

I carried the book over to the table and sat down, turning my crystal lamp on its lowest setting. I opened to the first page. It was full of Aerrow's elegant handwriting.

I began to read.

OOO

Okay... you people… you… people….

You all just made this story go through a loop that I really didn't anticipate. I mean, wow, you are looking to make this as tense as possible aren't you?

Seriously. By the time the next chapter comes around the Condor will be like a powder keg with all the secrets and drama going on.

Anyhow, I was going to try to do either Finn or Junko for this chapter, but the poll choice that won really didn't allow for that. I mean, Piper was really the only PoV that could pull this choice off, in my opinion.

I realize that this chapter was done in complete internal dialogue as opposed to the interaction you find with the other chapters, but I couldn't let her just lollygag with that journal, since Aerrow would probably end up missing it sometime, eh?

The poll results!

Piper reads the notebook, not telling Aerrow (Piper) – 39 percent

Piper leaves the journal in her room without reading it; Aerrow becomes frantic when he cant find it (Aerrow) – 30 percent

Stork 'researches' and finds out about the bet (Stork) – 17 percent

Piper gives Aerrow the notebook without reading it (Aerrow) – 13 percent

Finn breaks and tells Junko about the bet (Finn) – 0 percent

Piper confides in Junko about Aerrow and Finn's recent strangeness (Junko) – 0 percent

Radarr, having failed to get Stork or Piper to help, turns to Junko this time. (Radarr) 0 percent

Okay, next poll… We're going to go with a plot subject again. You know the drill.

Please review! Tell me your likes and dislikes. Like I said earlier, it helps me become better to know what is good and what is bad.

Thanks for reading!


	15. Late Night Reading

**Piper**

OOO

_Day One._

_I don't know how Finn managed to get me to agree to this…_

_Wait. Yes, yes I do. He knows how to push all the right buttons. Where did he learn how to be so sneaky?_

_Anyway. I agreed to do this, so I need to write this entry for the journal like I promised. I'll make this quick and relatively painless. The hell if I'll let him mess around with someone's mind like this. If I win this bet, then things can go back to normal._

_Besides, this just.. its just not right._

_So today was pretty simple. After Finn and I laid down the wager's ground rules, we went about our normal lives. I tried hard to ignore it, but the thought of the bet weighed pretty heavily on my mind. So much that I almost refused to help Piper when she needed a hand in her lab. Then Finn came along… there's no way I'm letting those two alone together. I mean, I don't need a fist fight breaking out and that's pretty much what would happen… the question is whether it would be me waling on Finn, or Piper._

_So I helped her out, then later on I did some hand to hand with her. I messed her up a little… stupid me, not paying enough attention. I felt really bad. I just now got done tucking Piper into bed. Of course, Finn was hanging around with his smartass comments._

_I don't know how this thing's going to end, but I can predict this: The whole bet is going to make it all get pretty messy._

_OOO_

I frowned. This bet… I wonder what it was about. I even recalled the day that he was referring to in this entry. It was right before Stork decided that they were suffering from some disease. And it was the same time that Finn shocked the hell out of me when I was trying to get someone to help me move furniture.

So.. what bet was Aerrow writing about, anyway?

A small voice in my head yelled at me to shut the book. I mean, yeah, it's a journal. I would probably be pretty upset if one of the guys was reading my journal..

But, dammit, I could hardly keep my hand steady as it reached over of its own accord and turned the page. I felt a twinge of conscience as I turned my eyes to the next page, but it was quickly overridden by the sheer weight of my curiosity.

OOO

_Day Two_

_I tried to convince Finn to drop it today. _

_Its like he's driven, though. Keeps saying that if I don't continue, he'll have to just do it on his own. Even threatened to bring Junko into it. I mean, really. Junko? As many doubts as I have about Finn getting her to do it, there's probably no way that Junko could get the results we're aiming for._

_Still, I kinda wish he would stop. I'm pretty uncomfortable with all of this. Its not a thing that friends should do to each other, after all. And we're all friends here, right?_

_I even toyed around with the thought of telling Piper about all this. I just don't feel right, keeping secrets. She's my best friend in the world, along with the other guys. And while I know that she would never do anything unless she actually wanted to, I still had this small fear that Finn might actually…_

_No. I don't want to think about that._

_Its not like I would be upset or anything… Its her choice if she does it, after all. And I don't think Finn can get her to do it. So really, maybe this whole thing will blow over if I just let it be for a little while._

_I'll have to continue writing in this though… its part of the wager._

_Anyhow, I didn't really have much contact with Piper today. So there's not much to report on that front._

OOO

Okay… this was weird.

There was an awful lot in this journal about me. I don't know whether to be flattered or afraid. It looked like I was some sort of informal focus for their game, whatever it was.

As much as Aerrow wrote about this mysterious bet, though, he didn't come out and write down exactly what the bet entailed. I wondered if it was worth it to read this journal to satisfy my curiosity. It looked like it might raise more questions than it answered…

But I had already started. I hooked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and leaned over the journal again. Luckily, since Aerrow's handwriting was so neat and the entries fairly concise, I probably wouldn't take too long to finish it up. Then I could just give it to Radarr in the morning.

OOO

_I almost hit Finn today._

_Well, scratch that. I did hit Finn today. During training. But before that… he had the gall to ask Piper for a kiss in exchange for telling her about the experiment._

_Of all the underhanded, sneaky ways to try to win a damn bet._

_It didn't help that I felt absolutely terrible at how Piper looked when we wouldn't tell her about it. I probably couldn't even find the words to explain even if I wasn't sworn to secrecy about this mess. I mean, can you imagine telling a teammate that you and another member are keeping a running track of your encounters with her? _

_This whole bet's a stupid concept. _

_Well, Finn's antics today pretty much precluded any chance of headway with Piper. She disappeared into her lab. Radarr didn't even seem to want to hang out today. He's looking kinda troubled since last night…but no matter. One good thing about today was letting off steam by sparring with Finn. I tried to go easy on him, I really did. But his whole idea of amusement is what got me into this mess and I would be lying if I said it wasn't at least a little satisfying to beat the stuffing out of him in hand to hand combat._

_When we finished, Piper was out of her lab. I saw her talking to Stork… and… well, they looked pretty cozy._

_Its actually a little surprising how taken aback I was by the perception. I mean, did Piper and Stork…?_

_It didn't seem possible, but Piper definitely offered me and Finn the cold shoulder when she saw us. Not that I could blame her on that account. I sure felt like a total heel by then._

_That's why I asked her to show me how to cook. Piper's an amazing cook, and not only would I learn something, but I would get her away from Finn and whatever lame attempts he might pull to get one up on me for this bet._

_Over my dead body. Hah._

_Then I managed to chop my hand up. Smooth move, Aerrow. Stork patched me up like normal, but he seemed a little skittish._

_I wonder why…_

_Maybe he didn't want me near Piper… he had this strange look in his eye whenever I got too close._

_Maybe the whole bet was more than a stupid way to amuse Finn on the long ride. I mean, if there's something going on between Stork and Piper, this could cause some problems._

_I'm going to try to get Finn to drop it again, but I doubt he will._

_And I cant let him win, can I?_

OOO

Again with the references to me. Just what was this playing at, anyway?

And Aerrow seemed pretty mad about when Finn asked me for a kiss the other day. I thought it was just Finn's pompous idiocy at the time… but… what was Aerrow talking about, an underhanded way to win a bet?

Finn almost won? Their experiment…

Slowly, a thought was coalescing in my mind.

If I had kissed Finn's cheek that day, Finn would have won a bet.

I didn't… so he hadn't won.

Aerrow told me earlier that if I knew about the details of the experiment, the results would be skewed…

And what was this about Stork? Aerrow thinks there's something between me and _Stork?_

My face flamed, though from embarrassment or anger, I wasn't quite sure. I set my mouth in a firm, thin line and turned to the next entry.

OOO

_Day Three_

_Today was interesting. We had a cloud in the ship._

_Stork was upset… and that was an understatement. I didn't know the Merb had such a good right hook until this morning when he used it on my face._

_After things were settled a little, it turned out that Piper'd had a lab accident. Something with a nimbus crystal and a floater stone, she said. That part was a little amusing… whatever had happened had caused her to float a good foot over the ground._

_And I think she nearly decked Finn for laughing so much._

_It's a good thing Junko was around, because I was fairly useless in the fogginess. Junko carried Piper to the table, where we all sat and discussed the issues arising from the lab scare… looked like the only repercussions to be worried about was the fact that Piper was no longer able to stand on her own two feet._

_I did sport a couple of victories over Finn. I noticed that Piper actually calmed down when I touched her arm earlier today. I don't know why… but it kinda made me feel good. Gave me a nice feeling in the pit of my stomach. And so did her smile._

_I helped her to her room after the excitement was over. I know this sounds kinda weird, but since I know no one will be reading this but me…_

_Well, holding Piper about the waist like that was really… kinda nice, I guess. I never noticed before how delicate Piper can seem. She always acts and looks so strong, that sometimes I can forget that she's actually pretty feminine at times._

_I would totally die if anyone read that. All the more reason to keep this journal on me at all times…_

_Anyhow… my attempts to get Finn to stop the stupid wager fell on deaf ears once more. I was talking to him in the lab after Junko had left when we had cleaned it up, but he just told me that he wouldn't stop even if I did._

_I cant let him win this…_

OOO

My face burned. These words… written by Aerrow…!

Lets just say that even these few entries, while still raising a whole lot of questions, still put a lot of the randomness of the past few days into a different perspective. This was another day that I remembered well.. hell, it was only yesterday, after all. It was the same day that Finn had made my tether and anchor contraption for me.

I pondered. Flipping the page over, I realized that the entry for that day wasn't complete. Maybe it would shed a little more light on things. I mean, after all, this was when Finn has started being nice to me…

I guess it was all part of this bet Aerrow kept talking about…

OOO

_Turns out Finn's not as much of a doof as I thought. He'd actually managed to get on Piper's good side today while I was busy with my normal duties. He made her a leash!_

_But… well, now she could get around on her own. I know that is pretty important to her. Even though I really wouldn't mind helping her out whenever she needed it. I mean, I'm not trying to sound creepy or anything. But it really is no problem._

_Moot point. In any case, she can move around on her own now, thanks to Finn. I guess he's more of a threat to this whole bet than I thought._

_And when he helped her to her room that night… even though she would be able to get to it herself… I dunno. I just felt… _

_Ugh._

_This bet is getting to me._

_I stopped by Finn's room. I had to let him know that he wasn't going to win this bet so easily. I don't want Piper to be hurt. Not at all. And I'm afraid that is what will happen if Finn wins._

OOO

The pages sat there in front of my eyes, though I don't think I was really comprehending them all that well at this particular moment. Aerrow… jealous?

Of Finn?

And Finn was trying to…

Wow. This was all a lot to take in.

I wondered absently how this sort of thing was supposed to make me feel. I mean, sure it really is a pompous thing for the guys to be doing. I knew at some level that my sensibilities as an individual should be offended. That it really was a blatant lack of respect that those two were doing this…

But I'm slightly ashamed to say, the inner girl in me was busy being excited and flattered. I mean, I don't normally let myself notice it, but Finn and Aerrow really are good looking. And they both have their strong points… and their negative points.

But really.. I was still in some sort of weird shock over all this, you know?

I couldn't do much but read on.

OOO

_Okay… I really think the stress is getting to me badly now. I cut my face up pretty bad just trying to shave this morning, thinking about Finn… Piper… Stork… all of it. And I looked pretty rough in the mirror too._

_I'm definitely going to have to beat Finn up again. I probably wont have a restful night of sleep ever again. I mean, I woke up way too early today as it is._

_I had almost convinced myself to knock on Piper's door, just to get someone to talk to… but I left it alone instead. I need not have worried; Piper found me in the hallway. I was only too happy to help her to the kitchen and make breakfast._

_I don't know why, but the simple act of making breakfast for Piper and myself made me feel.. I dunno, a little calmer. A little more content._

_It felt kinda natural, really._

_Even when Piper brought Stork up, it didn't faze me too much. So they had noticed the change in our behavior… big deal._

_Then again, it also brought up the touchy subject… I really want to tell her what's going on. I hate keeping secrets from her. I mean, we tell each other everything._

_Almost everything. If Piper ever read this journal… well, I would be beyond mortified, to say the least. Say what I will about Finn's stupid ideas, the bet is actually putting a lot of things into perspective for me._

_A little while after we ate, I met up with Piper again on the bridge. She looked so tired that I offered to take her to her room. And because she didn't get to sleep much last night… well, it started out as a friendly gesture, I suppose. I held her so she wouldn't go bumping into walls, so she could get a little rest._

_The next thing I knew, she was asleep in my arms and I was holding her close to me. She was so warm. And it felt so natural, the curve of her shoulders against my chest._

_Piper has this unique scent about her. Reminds me of her lab. I mean, there is rarely a day when I don't keep into her lab and see her huddled over her next big project or discovery. It's a constant in my life, I realized…_

_I mean… sitting there, and holding her… well, that was the most relaxed I had felt in a long time._

_I kinda looked forward to maybe asking her if she needed help sleeping the next night. I mean, it would be purely platonic, of course._

_I just enjoyed holding her._

_Even when she woke up and wanted to take care of her ablutions on her own, I was a little reluctant to let her go. I forced myself to, though. I couldn't make her let me help, after all._

_Piper's too strong for that._

_So I let her be for a while._

OOO

The thought that was going over and over in my mind was that… well, Aerrow had penned these words only a few hours ago.

That meant that these very thoughts were going through his head… a few hours ago. So recently.

Aerrow…. _Liked _me?

The idea was almost mind blowing. My best friend… good looking as he is… liked me.

Like… a lot.

But it made it seem like Finn might be of a like mind, too.

But one question remained… how the hell did those two find themselves in a bet like this?

I leaned back slightly and glanced out the window. The night was turning slowly but surely into the small morning hours. I still had a little left to read in this journal before I would have to stow it away.

I turned the page again. This was a pretty long entry… still the same one.

OOO

_Finn nearly kissed Piper._

_I'm sure of it._

_I walked in on him… leaning over her. They were staring at each other with their eyes wide. Piper looked surprised… confused… but not totally disgusted._

_It kinda shook me a little bit._

_I guess Finn was a little chagrined, because he stood up and excused himself, leaving me with Piper, alone in her room._

_By that time, I had forgotten why I had come to her room in the first place. _

_In fact, at this moment, I don't even remember what we said to each other once Finn left. Small talk of some sort, I'm sure… but I quickly excused myself._

_I went to find Finn. _

_We talked in my room. I wont go into detail, but it was really an eye opener. I broke down and told him what I had been hiding from everyone for a while… a long time._

_I care about Piper. A whole lot. And it's been for longer than this stupid bet, too._

_That's why I couldn't just let it be. I care about her too much. I mean, sure, I could have just ignored the bet and let Finn pursue her for all he's worth. Two days ago, I would have laughed at the very notion that Piper would kiss Finn, but now I'm not so sure…_

_I mean…_

_After I told Finn my feelings.. Well, I was surprised to find out that he felt much the same as me about her._

_Damnit._

_Finn's my best friend. Piper… well, she's my best friend too. And things went from a silly wager to something...life changing._

_Damn Finn._

OOO

That was the last entry. It was dated for just a few hours ago…

He must have written it right before he fell asleep.

Right before I had woken him up to return Radarr to him.

And…

Wow. I mean…

Wow. I really couldn't think of anything to say.

Truly, the whole concept of the bet was really… childish, to say the least. Regardless of the revelations that two of my best friends in the world… well… liked me… it was a childish, juvenile way to go about it.

I frowned. I was definitely flattered, don't get me wrong. And giddy that they were competing for my attention like that. But…

I kinda got the feeling that I was a prize in a competition, you know? And that's not exactly the best feeling in the world. Its not a very romantic take on relationships, by any means.

I sighed. I couldn't decide whether to be angry or just kinda… sad.

Then… an idea formed.

I gently closed the journal and maneuvered my way back to the bed. I could feel a smile forming on my face as the tiny threads of an idea started to coalesce in my mind.

The boys aren't the only ones who can play mind games.

I don't know if I will allow either of them to win.. but I could at least have some fun with it all for a little while.

I eased back into my sleeping back, not bothering to fight the smirk that I could feel growing on my face.

Aerrow and Finn think they can get away with this?

We'll see.

OOO

There! I hope you enjoy the longer chapter! 3,440 words for your reading enjoyment!

I was actually kinda dreading writing this after the chapter from last night, because I thought it would be too awkward, but I guess it turned out okay. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I am.

The poll results (you evil people) :

Piper reads the whole thing (Piper) – 43 percent

Aerrow discovers the journal missing (Aerrow) – 21 percent

Stork tries to combat the 'mind worms' (Stork) – 17 percent

Piper reads only the first page (Piper) – 8 percent

Finn tells Junko about the bet (Finn) – 8 percent

As for the next poll… I think you evil, mean people are enjoying choosing the major plot device for these chapters now, aren't you? So we will do that again. Each character paired with a choice, like always. Go vote!

And review!

And let me tell you, my fingers hurt after this update. I almost didn't start on it at all tonight.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!


	16. Hidden Talents

**Aerrow**

I nearly ran into Piper as she came out of her room late in the morning.

She looked pretty tired. She didn't even see me as she exited her room. Her face was drawn and her eyes nearly as red as Dark Aces'.

"Hey Piper," I greeted her. She looked up at me with bleary, unfocused eyes.

"Oh, hey Aerrow," she replied with a tired tone. "Good morning."

"You okay?" I asked, reaching out a hand to her without thinking. "You look beat. Didn't Finn's idea with the sleeping bag help at all?"

She smiled at me. "Yeah, actually, it did. But even having a good place to sleep doesn't help much when you don't use it… you know?" She grabbed on to my hand, hooking her arm around mine. I fought back a blush when I realized she now had herself tightly pinned to my side with that action. She was still easy to move around, being a good few inches from the ground. "Would you mind helping me to the kitchen? I'm starving."

"Uh.. sure, Piper."

She held tight to my arm the entire way there. Not overly so.. but she was close enough that I had to reign in my mind from jumping to silly conjecture. She was only using me for assistance. To get to the kitchen. So she could eat.

She wasn't holding onto me that tight, I reasoned. She was probably just tired of randomly drifting about. She only needed a little help to the kitchen because it would be such a pain to try to get down there in the first hours of wakefulness, when you are more likely to be hungry.

That's all, I told myself.

I carted her beside me down the passageways. I have to admit, I did sorta take my time about it. Every now and then I glanced over at her. Because of that silly floating, she was almost eye level to me. I liked seeing her when she was busy concentrating on something else. She always looked so thoughtful… intense, even. It struck me as weird that she hadn't figured out a way to reverse this whole floater crystal nonsense. In her defense, I suppose, she didn't exactly have a workable lab in the past couple days. I'm pretty sure that once she decided to put her mind to it, she would definitely find a cure for the problem if it didn't just go away on its own.

One such time that I looked over to study her, she caught my eye. She cocked an eyebrow at me with a slight smile. "What's up?" She asked me softly.

I swallowed and looked away, "Nothing. Looks like you're not floating quite as high off the ground today."

I could hear the amusement in her voice when she looked down at her feet. "Hmmm," she murmured. I could feel her breath tickle my arm. "Guess not. That's a plus, wouldn't you say?"

I cleared my throat, nodding, and opened the door to the kitchen. "Well, we already had breakfast but its nearly lunch time," I said at I guided her into the room. She let me go and deftly maneuvered herself to the cabinets. She was sure getting good at moving around like that. I think I would be hard pressed to make my way so efficiently after an accident like that. I would probably be stuck somewhere in the middle of a room, unable to do a damn thing because I would be far too helpless without the total control of my body.

I frowned. "Do you need any help?"

"It's okay, Aerrow," she replied with a smile over her shoulder, "I'll be okay. I think I might see if Finn would mind making me a sandwich again. You know, I never knew this about him but he is actually pretty good… well, not that he's some gourmet chef, but at least he can do a little in the kitchen, huh?" she added with a good natured roll of her eyes.

"Oh… well, I haven't seen him in a little bit… if you want, I can… well, that is, I wouldn't mind helping you out…"

She paused over there by the cabinets. I winced.

That even sounded pathetic to me.

When she turned around, I don't know what I expected. Laughter, maybe. Ridicule? Perhaps a look that said 'what is wrong with you?'.

Because I really did kinda sound like a dork.

But she had a slight smile on her face that did a funny thing to my stomach. Made it do flip flops for a second before I collected my thoughts enough to realize that she was talking.

"…been such a help lately, that I feel a little bad just relying on you all the time. I mean, you're probably sick of babysitting me."

"Of course not!" I put out, perhaps a little fast. "I'm not doing anything important these days anyhow. I mean, we aren't even due at our next mission point for several days."

She smiled at my comment, idly reaching a hand up to her shoulder and scratching at it gingerly. "Okay. Well, in that case, how about some of your killer pancakes? And how did you make them so fast anyway? I never taught you pancakes."

I gave my best mysterious grin as I stepped up behind her and, hands on her waist, guided her to a chair. "I may be hopeless in a lot of ways, but I _can_ cook. Every now and then."

She and I chatted about inconsequential things for the rest of the time we were in the kitchen, and it was kinda pleasant, actually. We lingered over the empty plates when we had finished eating our pancakes. I seemed to be on a roll, making her laugh often with a full throated sound that thrilled me just to hear it.

Conversations tend to wander, though. Soon enough I found myself confiding in Piper about how strange Radarr had been acting in the past few days.

"And he just doesn't seem to want to hang out with me much anymore… I mean, he's been around Stork more often than me, lately. And that's pretty weird."

Piper nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah… strange. Have you done anything lately that he might not have approved of? He IS pretty smart, you know."

I ducked my head over my empty plate before Piper could pick up on the guilty flush that started somewhere around my naval, building up to cover my cheeks. I think my ears even turned red. "I…I don't think I have," I muttered, my voice low. "But you never know with him…"

She didn't answer for a long time, and for a moment I thought she might have just not heard my reply. I looked up after few moments.

She wasn't sitting in her chair anymore. That was odd…

And of course I didn't hear her move at all. She didn't even touch the ground, so how would I be able to detect her footfalls?

_You're a genius, _I thought to myself, my lips twisting into a frown. _Not only do you lie to the girl, but you forget that she can go pretty much anywhere without being heard. And then you don't even notice when she up and leaves._

I sighed. Covering up the truth was really… well, not _me. _I shook my head and reached out to the plate she had left laying on the table when she had left, placing it on top of the one in front of me.

"Good going, Aerrow," I mumbled to myself, glaring at the dirty dishes in front of me. I sighed again for good measure.

Just as I was getting ready to stand and load the dishes into the sink, I felt a weight come down on both of my shoulders. I started in surprise, twisting around in my seat.

I found myself staring into light brown eyes, tinged with tawny gold. Those eyes were smiling warmly. "Good going?" Piper asked me, "For what?"

"N-nothing," I stammered out. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged and I felt her hands on my shoulders flex gently. "You look like you're a little bit stressed out. So I figured I'd help out."

She straightened up, resting one hand on my cheek and angling my head back forward. I obeyed her touch unquestioningly, finding myself staring at the picture of Dark Ace on the fridge. "Piper, what are you doing?" I demanded, doing my best to hide my reactions to her touch on my shoulders.

"A shoulder rub always helped me out when I was younger, when I was stressed out over things." She replied, at the same time that her fingers began to knead into my shoulders. It felt…

It felt very good.

She continued, "So I figured it might help you out too." He thumbs provided a steady pressure against the long, flat muscles on my back and her fingertips grazed over my neck and collarbone.

"I…." I felt my eyes starting to droop in pleasure at the sensations that her hands were introducing to my muscles. Really, I hadn't noticed how tense I had been for the past few days but she sure had a knack for smoothing the knots out…

Heavenly.

I don't know how long I sat there in the kitchen chair, Piper's hands smoothly pummeling muscles that had become bunched up and strained over the past few days of playing Finn's games. It must have been the better part of twenty minutes, at least. Even when I felt the majority of the tension leave, I didn't really want her to stop what she was doing. So when I felt her place the heel of her hand between my shoulder blades and push gentle, I acquiesced to her quiet command, pushing the dirty plates out of the way and leaning my upper body over the table, supported by my arms. Her hands… very strong hands… began to trace down my spine, knuckled rubbing firm circles into my back as she went.

It was all I could do not to groan at the relaxation that this whole situation was bringing to me. I mean, against all of my better logic, I was truly becoming relaxed and lethargic. "Mmm… Piper," I mumbled, "Why're ya doin'…mmmm?"

I heard a light chuckle. Her hands never stopped their soothing motions. "Because," she responded simply, "You're my best friend in the whole world, Aerrow, and sometimes I worry about you."

If I had been more conscious, perhaps that line would have given me a feeling of dismay. Instead, I was so languid by the time Piper had finished with me that I replied with, "Mmmm…Maybe I'll return the favor sometime…"

I heard another laugh. This time, her hands opened up to where they rested flat against my back, then traveled slowly up to my shoulders, drawing me backwards to sit back in the chair once more. "Its okay," she said.

Her hands continued up from my shoulders until they reached the nape of my neck. My skin prickled at this touch, causing goose bumps all over me. I heard her voice in my ear. Felt her breath caress my jaw.

Really… I kinda just froze. "Feel better?" She asked me, her whisper loud in my ear. I turned my head quickly toward her, surprised to find her face a bare three inches from mine.

"Uh… that…. Was… I mean, it was… nice. I-"

Piper smiled again before she stood up straight. "Good." She said.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" I asked. My muscles were still so loose from the treatment that Piper had given them.

"Well, Aerrow," she said with a coy look on her face. "There's a lot of things about me that people don't know."

"I didn't realize…" I started, but I was cut off by a shake of her head.

"We all have secrets, don't we, Aerrow?" she asked simply.

I was struck speechless at that comment. It was all I could do to sit there at that table while Piper made her way out the door.

OOO

Yes, I know its short. Its just barely over two thousand words. But I have an excuse! I had to work today, I have to get my house ready for the movers, and I had a story to betaread!

And I started on another fic I am collaborating with Madame Lady to write!

So while I didn't get the fic as long as I would have liked, I did manage to deliver a little fluff. I hope it didn't go too out of character. I'm not too coherent right now because I'm so tired that I am having trouble forming whole sentences.

Anyhow, poll results!

Piper encounters Aerrow, first thing in the morning (Aerrow) – 57 percent

Piper lets Stork in on the secret (Stork) – 19 percent

Piper encounters Finn, first thing in the morning (Finn) – 11 percent

Piper attempts to read Finn's journal too (Piper) – 11 percent

Okay… since I am way too tired to think of a good poll, I shall opt for a simple one. This time, you choose a PoV! Its going to be slightly limited again so I can start to streamline the story a little. I have so many potential arcs and tangents right now it aint even funny.

Thanks for reading. Please review. I love reviews.


	17. Pictures

**Finn**

I wasn't looking where I was going. So when I bumped into Piper and sent her spinning across the hallway, my first reaction was to laugh, but I choked it back at the last moment and hurried over to help her stop her crazily wavering path down the passageway. "Hey, you okay?"

I could have sworn her eyes were spinning about in her head. You know, when you have no real way of stopping your movement… well, I could imagine that it just has to suck. She put a hand to her mouth. "Ugh… I just ate, too…"

My eyes widened. "Uhh…uhh… need to go to the bathroom?"

Her hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder, and she leaned against me. She shook her head. "No… just.. hang on a sec. I should be fine."

"Sure." I maneuvered my right arm so that it rested lightly on her waist, while she continued to support herself on my shoulder. She took several long, deep breaths.

After a few minutes, she straightened back up. "Sorry Finn," she said, shaking her head. "Aerrow just made me breakfast… or lunch, I guess, since its close to noon, and I'm still pretty new to the whole floating thing. It gives me pretty bad vertigo.. plays hell on my equilibrium."

"Oh.." I nodded. "Well, sorry I sent you flying."

"Its okay." She replied. I noticed that she was still clinging to my arm rather firmly. "I'm alright now."

I cocked my head. "Really?"

"Yeah… why?"

I shrugged. Since she was attached to my shoulder, she bobbed with the movement. "Well, you're still holding onto me with a death grip. Though I guess if you _want _to come sit in my room and hang out..." I let the sentence trail off. Really, I didn't expect her to do anything but let me go and laugh, so I was surprised when she turned a thoughtful face to me.

"What are you going to be doing?"

I shrugged, slightly surprised. "Dunno yet. I'm just bored to tears and cant seem to talk anyone into doing anything fun lately."

Her eyebrows rose a bit at that comment, but she just smiled. "I'm getting kinda bored too. I cant even putter around in my lab right now… I cant move everything around very well, considering the circumstances…"

I drew myself up straighter, trying not to notice how her hand was still on my shoulder. "Well, I can help you out if you need anything. I mean, since I'm kinda useless right now and all…"

She smiled a little half-grin at me. "I might take you up on that later, but right now, I just kinda feel like relaxing a little bit. Would if bother you if I just came along with you?"

That surprised me. Piper wanted to hang out with me?

But then again, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth… whatever that means. I played it off as though it made no difference to me at all. "Sure, if you want. Though you know Stork might get the idea in his head that you have mind worms or something like that."

She laughed. "Believe me, Stork's been a little more Stork-like than normal lately."

OOO

It was almost awkward.

I mean, I can count the times that Piper had come to my room before on one hand. And she had never come to hang out or anything like that. She usually came over to haul me out of bed when I slept in or to yell at me about something or another that I had done to make her mad. So when we had made it to my room, I was really at a loss of what to do.

"Wow," I heard her say when she came in. "Its really… clean in here."

"What?" I asked defensively, "I cant have a clean room?"

"Its not that. I just never noticed how straight your room was whenever I was in here before. I always figured that she were a bit more… I dunno, sloppy?"

I frowned. "Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I'm a slob."

She chirped a laugh. "I know, I know. Don't take it so seriously, Finn."

Shaking my head, I moved past her to the bed. My guitar sat in its case in the corner nearest to me. I grabbed it and pulled it free of the cloth. "By the way," I said, "Would it be possible to get my guitar strings back?"

Piper had settled herself as best she could in my chair. "Well…" she drew out, tapping her chin as though she was putting forth some major thought. "I suppose I could find them… if you help me out with putting the lab back together later today."

"Hey, I already volunteered to help you out not ten minutes ago. Or are you losing your memory as well as your gravity, huh?"

"I know, Finn, but this way I know you wont be able to renege on your offer."

"Dude. Low blow."

She leaned back, clasping her hands behind her head. She actually looked sorta funny doing that, when you take into account the fact that she wasn't actually resting on any solid surface. "Yeah, but you'll do it anyway, wont you?"

I sighed. "You're lucky I like you."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh, really?" she asked in a strange tone.

I shrugged, feeling slightly self conscious at the way she studied me. "Well, duh. I have to like just about all of you people here in order to deal with spending weeks at a time out with you without trying to snipe every last one of you."

She turned her attention away from me with a small "Hmph." I watched her out of the corner of my eye, still fiddling around with my stringless guitar.

Piper was glancing around my walls. She paid particular attention to the posters that I had up over my bed. Nothing too big. Aside from a portrait of me and a picture of a couple terras, I had a couple shots of Aerrow and Junko flying their skimmers through the clouds. I had snapped those shots a while back, and had them blown up to poster size for my room.

What can I say? Flying is one of the things I love. It makes a pretty cool picture, too.

"Is that Aerrow?" she asked, pointing at one of the enlarged photos. "That definitely looks like him."

I hitched a shoulder in response. "Yeah, I think so. Got a couple of Junko around here too."

"None of me or Stork?"

"Nah. Stork doesn't fly and I always figured you're get mad if I randomly snapped a picture of you."

"Why's that?"

"Well, you're a girl."

"…so?" The way she said that made me feel kinda like a dork.

"Well.." I mumbled, "Girls are weird like that sometimes."

"How would you know that, Finn?"

I frowned and stood up. "Never mind. I just figured you wouldn't like it and I didn't want to listen to you yell at me again." I snatched up the case for the guitar and started to shove the instrument into it. It kept snagging on something.

Piper frowned. "I don't yell that much, do I?"

I muttered a curse at the bag, setting the guitar aside and sticking my hand inside to see what the holdup was. I fished around until my hand encountered something smooth and flat. "Sometimes you do," I muttered off handedly as I pulled out my notebook. "Aha! I was wondering where that got off to…"

I replaced the guitar and tossed the notebook onto the top of the pile of magazines that I keep on my desk. I had turned to walk back past Piper when I felt her hand clasp my wrist, bringing me to a halt. She looked up at me with a troubled expression. "Am I really that bad?"

I swallowed. I never usually let myself stop and contemplate how pretty her eyes were, but that thought hit me full force in that moment. She looked genuinely disturbed that I might think she was too overbearing, and suddenly, I wanted to assure her that it wasn't really that bad. "No," I forced myself to say around the sudden tightness in my throat, "Its not always that bad. And you gotta admit, I usually start a lot of the crap that you get upset about."

Piper chuckled, shaking her head but not letting my arm loose. "Yeah… but then again, it would never be the same if you weren't causing mischief."

I laughed, my eyes darting away from her face, lest I find myself blushing at the sheer amount of eye contact. She let my arm go, though I felt a strange tickle up my spine at the way her hand slid down my arm and the back of my hand.

I sprawled back out on my bed, my head turned slightly away from her.

I mean, what was I going to do with Piper sitting here in my room? Its not like I had much in there that would be entertaining to her. She didn't listen to the same music I did, so I couldn't even turn to the radio to relieve the silence. So what was I supposed to do?

I was still sitting there pondering that question when I heard the rustle of papers. I peered around, only to find Piper picking up my journal.

My….

My journal!

"Hey!" I exclaimed, shoving myself to my feet, "You cant read that!"

"Chill out, Finn," She replied, holding up a hand to fend me off, "I'm not trying to read it. I just wanted a few pieces of paper."

She opened up the journal to the back page and tore out a couple of papers. They were blank, so it wasn't like I would be missing anything. "See?" She asked, waving the papers in front of my nose, "Just a couple papers."

"Oh… good. Cause the experiment is still going." I said awkwardly, patting the now closed journal as it lay innocently on the stack of magazines, "And you cant… uh.. know."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I know. I remember," she muttered irritably. Something in the way she held herself at that moment made me feel almost ashamed. She darted a glance at me out of the corner of her eye, then sighed. "Its just frustrating."

I didn't really have anything to say to that, so I retreated back to my bed. I let myself study Piper's profile as she turned and leaned against the desk, snagging one of my pencils and putting it to the papers she had taken from my notebook. She was drawing, wide flowing strokes across the page.

Now, I knew that she knew how to draw, but it was a rare thing for her to allow any of us to actually sit there and watch her do it. I couldn't draw too well myself, so I always thought the process was fascinating. How could someone take something that was real, an object sitting there in front of them, and transcribe it to the flat surface of a piece of paper? The ability to do so was elusive to me, but Piper had a rare talent.

So it was almost without my realizing it that I found myself up off of the bed yet again, standing behind her as the lines on the paper slowly coalesced into a recognizable shape.

I couldn't really tell you how long it took her to draw that picture, but I stood there the whole time, halfway expecting her to tell me to back off or something.

She had drawn the figure of a girl in profile, sitting on the seat of a heliscooter. There were clouds dusting from the heliscooter's blades and the shading she had roughed in made it look like it was somewhere between the early evening and nightfall. I leaned down over her shoulder to watch as she added the smaller details.

She turned her head toward me and I felt her breath dance across my lips when she spoke. "Here you go."

The blood rushed to my head and face and I jerked upright in reaction to her proximity. "Huh?"

"Well, you don't have any pictures of me, so I felt left out. So I made you one." She handed me the page.

When I reached out to take it, her fingers brushed mine, lingering gently before pulling back again. It took me a moment to find my tongue. "Oh… uh, thanks."

She pushed herself upright and I held out my hand to help. She took it with a nod of thanks. I pulled her up and reluctantly released her hand once more and caught her studying me with that strange look of inscrutability again. I opened my mouth to ask her if there was something wrong when she smiled at me. "So… you want your guitar strings back?"

I nodded.

"Well, lets go ahead and fix up my lab then. Maybe we can get Aerrow to help too."

"Its not that big a job. I can do it on my own. We don't need to bother him." I said, helping her to the door. I heard her laugh.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think you didn't want him around or something," she replied.

"Not that," I lied through my teeth, "But he's been kinda stressed out lately, with the experiment and all…"

She frowned as we made our way down the hallway. "Yeah…"

I groaned inwardly. "Don't worry Piper. We promised to tell you about it as soon as it was over."

"At this rate," she sighed, "I'm not sure its ever going to be over."

I glanced at her in amusement.

If only she knew.

OOO

Man… I meant for there to be fluff. But it just didn't work that way. I think that if I had given Finn a fluff chapter so soon after Aerrow's fluffy moment it might have left it feeling tacky.

Poll results!

Finn – 47 percent

Piper – 23 percent

Aerrow – 11 percent

Radarr – 11 percent

Stork – 5 percent

Junko – 0 percent

Okay, vote, each choice paired with a character, blah blah blah.

The next poll will be… I think.. Oooh! We'll go with plot event again. Those are fun.

Also, I am doing the whole 'half asleep' thing right now too. But yay, I don't work tomorrow! I might be able to get a chapter done early tomorrow then!

Okay… so, go vote! And review! I love the reviews and I am going to definitely reply to the reviews from last chapter as soon as this one is safely posted. For all who reviewed Chapter 15 and didn't get a reply, I'm sorry. I normally reply to all review but yesterday I was all kinds of tired.

Thanks for reading!


	18. Lab Clean Up

**Finn**

"No! That doesn't go there!"

I sighed in irritation, the box in my arms getting even heavier as I stepped away from one of the many shelves in the lab… the shelves that looked completely indistinguishable from all the others, but apparently, the particular crate of crystals I was holding would not be tolerated sitting there. Instead, I shuffled over to where Piper was pointing, about two feet to my left and one shelf lower. I eyed her with a scowl. "Does it really make that much of a difference?"

"Yes, of course it does. I cant have those sitting right next to a sack of hypnosis stones!"

I looked pointedly at the shelf. The empty shelf. "Sorry to break it to you, Piper, but there aren't any-"

"There _will _be in a little bit once all the stuff gets put back the way it belongs." She said with a huff, lifting another crate that looked identical to the one I carried. She struggled to place it on a shelf that was above her hear, even while floating eight inches from the floor. I hastily put my crate in its designated spot before reaching over to steady her grip on her load.

"Here, why don't you let me get the heavier ones-" I started, but she cut me off with a glance.

"I'm not an invalid, Finn."

"I know," I gritted. Damn, if trying to be nice wasn't annoying as all hell! "But we don't need another repeat of the other day. I am sure as hell that I don't want whatever freaky special effects you have going on, if you manage to create another wacky explosion."

"It wasn't my fault."

"Uh-huh. I guess it was just Bob, the invisible blue unicorn from Terra Fantasia."

"….what?" her face screwed up in an expression that indicated that my humor, such as it was, probably went straight over her head.

I shook my head. "Nothing. Nothing. Now where does this one go, before you hurt yourself?"

She sighed in resignation and let me have the crate. "Top shelf. Left end, next to the mortar and pestle."

I placed it, then turned around in time to see her scratching gingerly at her shoulder. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied, still rubbing her nails lightly at her shoulder. "My shoulder's just really kinda itching all of a sudden."

I raised an eyebrow and peered over at her. "Move your hand," I said. She gave me a weird look but she complied.

There was a faint cut on her shoulder right where she had been scratching. The surrounding skin looked angry and agitated. "Ew," I said, matter-of-factly.

"Ew?"

"Yeah. It looks like your shoulder's growing a giant zit."

"Ugh! Gross, Finn!"

"Hey, it's _your_ shoulder."

She raised her hand back up to it.

"Hey!" I protested, grabbing her wrist, "Don't scratch it. That just makes things worse!"

"How would you know?" she tried to yank her hand out of my grip. "Its not like you have splinters in various parts of your body!"

That stopped me. "It's a splinter?"

"Well, yeah. I told you guys about them when I got them"

"Its still there?"

"Yeah. It wasn't bothering me until now."

"Dude. It's probably infected. Why didn't you have Stork take a look earlier? That's not like you, Piper."

"He's stressed out enough right now, with the way you guys are acting. I don't want to bother him."

I shook my head. "No way. That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. And that's pretty bad, coming from me. Come on." I started tugging her to the door.

She resisted, holding on to a chair. "I want my lab fixed."

"And I want a pony. Sometimes you just don't get what you want."

"Seriously, Finn. I don't want to bother Stork right now. He's really not in a great mood lately and I think the sight of blood might just do him in."

I held my hands out to my sides in askance. "So what? I'm not going to let you just sit there and go septic on me."

She looked around. "Well… you're not squeamish, are you?"

"No… couldn't exactly do my job if I was." I said with a toss of my head.

"Well.. then why don't you do it?"

I think all the color must have drained from my face. "You want me to pull it out?"

She sighed. "Its either you or Aerrow, and last I checked, Aerrow wasn't in any condition to do anything requiring finesse."

"_What?"_

"Nothing bad," she hurried to say, "He's just kinda tired right now."

Something about that sounded fishy to me… but if Piper said Aerrow was okay, then I really had no reason to worry. Although I couldn't think of why Aerrow would be tired. I mean, he'd gone to bed super early last night. I know. He hadn't left his room last night after he and I had our little heart to heart regarding Piper and the bet.

But if Piper said that he was okay… well, maybe he had just had some trouble getting to sleep last night. I know I did.

I frowned at her. "Fine. Whatever. But if you bleed on me, you're doing my laundry for a month."

She wrinkled her nose. "I'll make sure to do my best to avoid _that._"

With a little help and direction from Piper, I managed to find the small first aide kit that she always kept in the lab. Inside it was some antiseptic, bandages, cotton balls, needles, and tweezers in a little sterilized bag. I pulled out the contents of the kit and turned to Piper. I regarded her for a long moment.

"What?" She asked when I didn't say anything.

"I don't know how to tell you this, but its going to be about impossible for me to do it."

"Why?"

"You're bobbing around too much. Unless there's some way to keep you still, I'll end up stabbing you or something."

"Well, cant you just hold on to me with your other hand?"

"I don't think I'll be able to keep you still with just one hand."

She frowned. She bit her lip and I felt my lips jerk into a slight smile before I reigned my expression in again. She looked pretty cute when she did that. After a moment, she took a breath. "How about I hold on to you?"

"Huh?"

"I'll just sit in your lap and hold on to you so I don't bounce around. That way you'll have both hands free."

I felt my body attempt to redden my cheeks at the idea, but I managed to push it down. "Whatever. But you totally owe me after this."

"Fine, sure. Lets just get it over with."

I settled myself into a chair and glanced up at her. She came to hover barely an inch over my lap, twisting her torso around to face me and resting her hands on either side of my waist to keep her arms out of my way. When her fingers brushed my ribs, I couldn't help it. I giggled.

That brought an expression of amusement to her face. "What's wrong?"

"That tickled." I said gruffly, reaching out to retrieve the first aide supplies. She smiled thoughtfully to herself.

I wont go into the details of getting that splinter out. Lets suffice it to say that it was like removing any old splinter from your skin, if the splinter happens to be about a half inch long and made of stone. It didn't bleed much but I could tell that if we hadn't pulled it out, then it would probably have generated a nasty infection.

Throughout the whole procedure, Piper's face was a bare six inches away from mine and she had evidently decided to amuse herself by studying every facial feature I possessed. That made for a rather strange couple of minutes of silence while I performed the impromptu splinter-ectemy. I mean… she was just _watching _me.

I cleaned up the spot with some antiseptic and applied the bandages to the cut before sitting back and looking up at her with my head cocked to the side. It was very easy to realize how close she was to me in this moment. Very easy to notice the delicate curve to her lower lip as she sat there watching me.

I never noticed how she had little speckles of dark brown in her light eyes, either…

Or the way her hair fell out of the headband after the few hours we're been working in the lab. It looked soft… I found myself wanting to touch it.

"Finn…" she said in a low voice. I felt a tingle chase up my spine.

"What..?" I asked, trying not to look mesmerized by her eyes.

"Well.. since I probably wont get this chance again…" she looked away, then back at me, biting her lip. "I wanted to.."

"To what?" My heart thumped oddly in my chest. She wasn't going to….

She leaned in closer.

Was she really…?

"I just wanted to…" she murmured softly "…do this."

Her fingers dug into my side, causing my eyes to spring open from their half-lidded state as my body spasmed. A laugh clawed its way out of my throat as she attacked my highly ticklish ribs without mercy. I jerked uncontrollably as the tremors wracked my body. "No—not fair!" I gasped out.

Now, I generally try to avoid being tickled. In a tickle fight, I'll be the first one to admit defeat since it is so easy to reduce me to meaningless giggles within moments.

She crowed a triumphant laugh. "All's fair in war!" she cackled at me. But when she had paused to gloat at me, she had let up a moment with the tickling. I took that opportunity to grab both of her wrists and keep them captive.

"Really?" I asked. I stood up, holding her out at arm's length. "All's fair?"

She just laughed at me. "You should have seen your face."

"That was pretty low."

"Funny, though."

"Yeah, just after I helped you. On _top_ of helping with the lab cleanup, I might add."

She shook her head. "Its all in good fun."

"Oh, really?" I asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you act like that. At least, not around me."

She glanced down at her hands, which I still held captive. Moving her gaze back up to me, she replied in a much more contemplative tone than I expected. "Well, everyone else is acting strange. I figure I might as well try to fit in. Change with the times, you know."

"Nah,"

"What?"

"You shouldn't change."

She pinned me with an arched glance. "Oh?" She asked, "Why not?"

I shifted uncomfortably. I let go of her hands and crossed my arms self consciously. "You just shouldn't. I like you just the way you are." I mutter that last bit and she leaned a little closer.

"What again?" she asked, "I didn't catch that."

She looked like she genuinely hadn't heard. "I just said that you shouldn't change."

"Oh."

A semi awkward silence descended and I looked around in hopes of finding something to break the tension. My eyes fell on the sliver of the crystal I had pulled out of her shoulder. It floated a few inches off of the desk. I reached out and plucked it out of the air. "What are you going to do with this?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Don't know. Its actually pretty useless, since its so small."

I peered over at her. "Well, at least its out of you now. In fact, it looks like you're not floating as high now that its gone." Indeed. Her feet were now only about six inches off of the deck instead of eight. "So… if you don't want it, can I keep it?"

"Why?"

I shrugged and turned my face to the side so she couldn't detect the slight flush I could feel burning my features. "I don't pull giant splinters out of people every day. Besides, I could probably make a killer guitar pick out of it."

Piper laughed. "Well, its not like I need it."

"Sweet." I grinned gamely, "So… do I get my guitar strings now?"

"My lab isn't put back together yet."

I groaned. "Fine, fine."

I got back to work putting seemingly random crates into a weird sort of order that probably only existed in Piper's mind. Or maybe she just liked to make me follow her directions to a tee. Frankly, even with the bet going on I was finding myself getting bored. I was really looking forward to being able to play my guitar again.

Hah. And Piper thought Stork was going nuts now. Just wait until I had the rock machine back in action.

But still… I glanced over at Piper, who had made some comment and was now grinning at me as I followed her directions. Maybe the guitar could wait.

Because even though I was working right now…

Well, I enjoyed the company.

OOO

Ugh…. Okay, that didn't go as planned. Though I guess she DID sorta mess with his head. I tried to make this one a little more humorous, but I get the feeling that the attempt kinda fell flat…

Oh, and I know its short. But I am making sure that each update is at LEAST 2000 words. Sorry for the brevity of the past few chapters. I hope they are still entertaining.

Anyhow, on to the poll results.

Piper plays with Finn's head while he cleans her lab (Finn) – 66 percent

Piper lets Stork in on the knowledge of the bet (Stork) – 20 percent

Piper managed to take Finn's journal from his room, without Finn knowing (Piper) – 13 percent

Radarr tries to enlist Junko's help with his issues about Aerrow and Finn (Radarr) – 0 percent

Next update…. Well, this one will be a major change in events so we can get the plot moving along again. So we will vote on a plot twist this time!

Thanks for the reviews and the readership. I am glad people are seeming to like this. I'm also glad that I didn't abandon this fic like I was tempted to do way back when… wow, about ten or so chapters ago. Thanks for all the support, otherwise it probably would have fallen by the wayside.

I am going to continue trying to update every night, but with my transfer date and the move coming up, please try to be patient if I miss a day here and there. I am now trying to gear this fic up for a close, hopefully within the next couple of chapters.

Thanks again!


	19. The Cure

**Stork**

Brilliant.

They would never know it was coming. Not the way that I set things up.

I knew what it was that affected the sniper and the sky knight now. It wasn't mind worms or some sort of fungus. It wasn't an evil, crystal wielding overlord bent on subversion and conquest. Its not like Cyclonis even knew where we were at that particular moment.

No, it was something much more insidious. I had seen the signs of this infestation before. The symptoms… behavior that was slightly 'off'. Random flushing of the cheeks. Elevated breathing occurring at strange intervals. Inability to maintain eye contact. Stuttering.

All classic examples of a brain destabilizing condition. There were only a few causes for symptoms like that, and the most common by far was the brain louse. It was deceptively easy to become infected by such a bug. The insect even managed to replicate some of the more physical problems that came along with stress and sickness. In extreme cases, victims were known to have fallen to the ground, burning with fever, though most of the time it was simply a slight temperature spike that accompanied the random flushing of the cheeks.

I was pretty sure they were both running fevers every now and then, in any case. With the amount of blood rushing through their features, it was pretty much a given.

Now, some may try to disagree with me on the causes and symptoms that I had observed in the last few days, but I was pretty certain of this. This was one of those things that some people end up going for weeks without diagnosing, before the drama that the lice begin to instigate in their lives finally culminates into a violent end for whatever person is unfortunate-and weak minded-enough to have been brought down by this dangerous pest.

Oh yeah, I knew this one.

Brain lice.

There was no way those little wiggling demons would guess at my intentions. They would never be able to combat my preemptive strike.. Evil, tiny brain lice, overtaking the minds of my teammates. They would never see it coming.

Everyone knows that brain lice are inherently stupid. The only thing they have going for them is the overpowering ability of theirs to completely dominate the frail minds of other sentient creatures. Namely, Finn. I don't know how they managed to get Aerrow's submission. Perhaps he was already suffering from some sort of infection… That thought bore some more looking into. Frankly, if the leader of the Storm Hawks was starting on a premature decline into senility… well, there were tests nowadays to detect that. It was the only reason I could think of, personally, as to why Aerrow, of all people, would be overcome by something that should never have even given him a pause.

No matter.

Brain lice aren't sentient by any means. They are little more than miniscule insects that feed off of the brainwaves of their hosts. They have the typical survival instinct that every creature is endowed with, though, which causes them to somehow alter the behavior of their host in such a way as to produce the most brain waves on which to feast. That explains the random behavior of the two over the past few days… Why else would they behave in such a strange manner?

In any case, it was totally up to me to save them from this fate. Piper was completely convinced that they were acting fine, and Junko was far too naïve to realize anything was wrong.

It was up to me.

At least, that's what I told myself as I feverishly worked on the wiring systems within the main defense mechanism of the Condor. Even though it pained me to wrench the internal workings of the Condor so painfully around, I steeled my resolve. Some things had to be done. And all the modifications I was making to my beloved ship's systems would be completely temporary. I mean, they only needed to work for a short time. Afterwards, I could easily go back and take everything down and replace it the way it used to be. It wouldn't even take too long.

It only needed to work for a few hours. It's common knowledge that brain lice, deprived of constant stimulus, only lived for a short time. Its been proven in laboratory experiments. It always struck me as odd that the way to take care of such a problem was so easy. Isolation from interaction, sound, light, and well, anything else.

Really, for the cure for such a debilitating disease, it was mind numbingly simple… if you'll excuse the pun. So all I needed to do was make sure that the two human males in question would be isolated for a few hours.

In the dark.

Alone.

I frowned. On second thought… maybe it would be a good idea to ensure that Piper and Junko would undergo the same treatment anyway. Nip it in the bud, so to speak. Even though Junko hadn't been acting out of sorts, I had noticed that Piper was walking with more of a bounce in her step and a smile on her face for the past day. While Piper was never a very dour person, I don't think I ever remembered seeing her enjoy herself so much while fulfilling her many duties around the ship. She hadn't yelled at Finn all day, and in fact, she'd smiled at him. It was a strange smile that took me a few moments to understand the oddity of it… but when I did, I began to get alarmed.

The smile she shot at Finn looked almost… _affectionate._

That's when I decided that it had to affect everyone. Everyone except me, that is. I was damn certain that I was not infected by any brain controlling organism.

And they laugh at my preventative measures. I'll see who is laughing once they are free from this plague.

And I guess that included Piper and Junko. I mean, there was just no way that I could be absolutely sure that they weren't affected by the lice.

Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

Those brain lice didn't stand a chance, I reaffirmed to myself. I continued to splice and run wire throughout the system, occasionally grunting out an apology for my actions to the Condor as she groaned and swayed in the wind.

OOO

It was about nine or ten at night when Junko finally made his way to bed. He was the last one to turn in for the night, surprisingly. Normally, he beat the rest of us to sleep. He had insisted on keeping me company while he ate his late night snack… something I normally don't mind him doing, but tonight… well, tonight I wanted to set my plans rolling as soon as I possibly could. I didn't want to live with the risk of becoming infected with the brain lice that had obviously already gotten Finn and Aerrow. I could just _imagine _the wriggling little bugs crawling into my scalp…

Ugh…

The thought if it made my skin crawl.

I smiled to myself as Junko finally cleared his plate from the table and bid me a quiet "Good night."

I nodded in his direction, concealing my satisfied expression as he disappeared into the sleeping quarters of the ship. I couldn't hear the sound of the doors opening and closing from here, so I just resigned myself to counting to fifty before I even took the first step in my plan.

_One… two…_

I leaned over the control column of the Condor, resting my elbows upon it comfortably. I eyed the little black button that was newly installed on the control panel, right near my left hand. It stared back at me, innocent and innocuous.

_Thirteen… Fourteen…_

It brought a smile to my face. Soon enough, that innocent little button would be pushed, and by morning, the effects of the brain lice would be negated.

_Twenty-two…_

After that, all we would have to worry about would be the disinfecting and chemical wash of all of the rooms. Like any other sort of lice, the eggs tended to cling to life a little more tenaciously than the insects themselves. Once we managed to make a clean break from the current batch of insectoid overlords, the others would definitely see the wisdom in my plan. After all, who wouldn't want to be free from such a fate in the first place?

_Thirty-seven… Thirty-Eight…_

And there was a good chance that they wouldn't even notice the plan being put into action, so subtle was my idea. I mean, truly, after going to bed for the night, they probably wont even notice when the buttons that serve to open the doors and windows throughout the ship cease working. The doors would simply remain closed, unable to be opened at all. Not even manually. They would be stuck in their rooms until the time the sun came out the next day. I mean, I had to be absolutely sure that everything was back to normal… as 'normal' as things ever got around here.

_Forty-four…_

Genius in its simplicity. Simply make them remain in their rooms until sun up. A few hours of solitude never hurt anyone, after all, and in this case, there was only a great deal of benefit.

_Forty-seven…_

Soon.

_Forty-Eight…_

I eyed the little black button. It was so small and unassuming. You'd think it was something simple, like a light switch, or maybe even a call button.

_Forty-Nine…_

The darkness was still descending on the ship. It was so close to being the literal dead of night, I knew that no one would be up and out of their rooms. After all, tomorrow was a hand to hand training day, and everyone always got as much rest as they possibly could on the nights before training days.

My finger hovered over the button. I looked around nervously, though my entire body was taut with giddiness and anticipation.

_Fifty._

It gave a satisfying _click _as it slid smoothly down under my fingertip.

OOO

If you listened closely, it was possible to hear the change of tone in the ever present buzz that continuously echoed throughout the Condor. The circuits that ran power throughout the ship let off such a constant noise that when you were used to it, it was so easy to forget that you were hearing it constantly throughout each day. When the tone changed, however, it was definitely noticeable. With the sudden lower level of power being demanded from the generators, the ubiquitous sound grew lower and took on more of a thick humming sound than the high whine that used to echo through the halls.

I noticed it right away. I winced when that happened, since I knew that while Junko was in his room, probably in bed, I didn't know if he would decided to stand up and investigate the alteration of sound.

I stood stock still for several minutes, listening intently for the telltale noise of a confused Wallop suddenly realizing that he was locked in his room, but no commotion came to my ears. Instead, all I heard was the creak of the ship as she moved on autopilot and the lower pitched hum that told me that the Condor's energy was not being used as efficiently as it once had been.

After all, there were no lights on now that were not essential to operation. There were no creature comforts to speak of now… no coffee maker, no radio, not even the ability to shower as of this moment. Its not like anyone showers in the dead of night anyway.

Oh well. In about half a day, that wouldn't matter anymore. Everything would be back up to normal capacity after this… 'treatment'. And it should only take one time like this before everything was good. The lice would be gone and everyone would be normal again.

Really, Aerrow and Finn were starting to get to me with their obsessive journals and strange new behaviors.

I leaned back over the steering column with a satisfied feeling washing through me.

Even though no one believed me… even though Piper definitely didn't take my warning seriously… everyone would still be alright. I was going to fix this and when I did, they would understand. Even though they would probably not be very happy at first, I was pretty sure they would all come around in the end.

It was for the good of the squadron, after all. I would hope that they would do the same if I were ever in any sort of predicament where I needed help but was unable to actually articulate that fact.

I stared out at the clouds as they broke endlessly on the brow of the ship as we moved through the air toward our next destination. They were dark and rolling over the windows like so much fog on a moonlit night. It was pretty mesmerizing.

Though I didn't know how long I would be awake, I resigned myself to a silent vigil while my teammates rested.

Someone had to keep an eye on everyone.

OOO

Whew… Okay, I meant to make that one more humorous and have more dialogue, but Stork just went all angsty and emo on me all of a sudden.

Sorry for the short chapter, too. I think I got the meaning across, though.

Poll results:

Stork does something drastic (Stork) – 39 percent

Piper accidentally lets on to Aerrow that she knows about the bet (Aerrow) – 21 percent

Finn and Aerrow compare notes in an attempt to one-up each other. (Finn) – 17 percent

Piper concocts a solution to the floatiness (Piper) – 10 percent

Piper accidentally lets on to Finn that she knows about the bet (Finn) – 10 percent

Okay… The next poll… well, this is it, folks. I seriously do think that chapter twenty will be the final chapter. I warn you all now that my next offering on this story will probably dwarf the other chapters, so it will most likely take a day or three for me to finish writing. So just a head's up on that. Even is this story does not get updated for a couple days I will make sure to write a few drabble updates in the interim, so you all don't forget about me!

So… go to the poll a vote. And review, too. I like reviews.

Cheers.


	20. The End?

**Aerrow**

"Come in."

I pressed the button to open the door at Piper's permission to enter. It slid open with a soft noise, revealing the tidy room behind it. Piper was sitting at her desk with her tether wound around the leg of her chair, holding her fairly still. He knee was propped against the edge of her desk and she was holding a needle, a set or tweezers, and had her lamp pulled close to her leg.

I stood there for a moment, taking in the scene. It really was a bit odd. I cleared my throat, but she didn't look up. "What are you doing?"

Piper was probing her knee with the tweezers. "Surgery," She said.

O…kay.

"Oh… need any help?"

She straightened and sighed. Dropping the tweezers on the desk, she glanced over at me. "Actually… I might. I'm trying to get the rest of the splinters out."

"What? What splinters?" I narrowed my eyes, "I thought you'd gotten Stork to take care of that for you."

"Oh, good grief, not you too."

"What?"

"Finn nearly dragged me bodily out of the lab when he realized I hadn't gone to Stork."

That made me stop in surprise. "Well…" I said after a few moments, "Why didn't you?"

"Stork's acting too weird." She eyed me, tilting her head up a little. "Kinda like the rest of you guys. Except Junko."

That comment made me a little uncomfortable.. but then again,_ I _knew the reason why Finn and I had been acting so strange, and it made me feel pretty duplicitous to keep telling her that it was something that didn't really concern her.

Really, its not right to keep secrets from the team, right? Especially when we all had to share a measure of trust with each other that transcended that of normal friendships. I mean, I would give my life for any of the guys, and they would do the same for me… so the act of hiding something so silly, like this bet, just irked me.

Piper didn't deserve to have to remain in the dark. And this whole bet was stupid.

I wanted to tell her everything.

Even though I had made the deal with Finn, I wanted to just come clean. Right now. That was the reason I had come here, really. Because I was finally tired of the whole ordeal. I was tired of being jealous of my best friend whenever he managed to make any progress with the wager…

I didn't really want to admit it to myself, or anyone else for that matter, but I really was starting to think that maybe I liked Piper… well, I had already said as much to Finn, but I mean…

Hell. I don't know what I mean.

All I knew at that moment in time was that I was tired of the evasion. Not lies, to be precise. I don't think we actually ever _lied _to her, but the omission of our real activities felt close enough to an untruth to make me squirm.

I could feel my stomach tighten in an attempt to quell the surprisingly guilty feelings that I was experiencing.

It didn't work… it kinda made me feel sick. I frowned to myself.

"You okay?"

I realized that she was still watching me while I was having my internal conversation with myself. Apparently, I had been making some pretty weird faces because she had an expression of such amusement… the corners of her mouth was curled into a tentative smile. I scratched the back of my head, awash with self consciousness. "Yeah," I replied after a moment. "Just thinking."

"Huh" she said noncommittally. "'Bout what?" She bent back down over her knee. I narrowed my eyes at her as she prodded a small scabby cut with a needle.

"Stuff." I mumbled, then, "How can I help?"

"Well… I know you aren't easily grossed out. So… come here." I obeyed and moved closer. She thrust a needle into my hand and turned slightly so that her knee was angled toward me. "I'm going to need you to help me get the splinter to where I can pull it out with the tweezers. Finn showed me how to do it pretty quick earlier today but I couldn't see it very well since it was in my shoulder." I glanced up at the aforementioned shoulder in surprise. There was a neat white bandage wrapped around the spot where her sleeveless clothing exposed her skin to the air.

"Oh. Finn wrapped it up for you?"

"Yeah. I was surprised at how handy he is with a first aid kit. Really, its not something that I would have expected from him."

"Heh. Well, think about how often Finn managed to injure himself. He kinda has to know how to do an emergency dressing. Otherwise he'd probably be dead by now." This comment earned me a laugh, which brightened my mood considerably. Almost enough to combat the sour mood I had gotten myself into after thinking about the bet.

Really, its not like I wanted to go back on my words with Finn. I had promised him. I had agreed to abide by the rules he had laid out, right? So… if I were to tell Piper, it would be going back on my word. And that's something that I never do, not if I can help it.

But I _really _didn't like this whole situation.

"Yeah," she said in response to my explanation, "I guess you're right. I'm just so used to seeing Finn pop back after everything that happens to him that I guess I've started thinking that he's indestructible."

"Huh." I hefted the needle and reached out to her knee to steady it. I managed to quell the blush that tried to rise over my cheekbones at the feeling of her skin. It was really warm beneath my hand. "Let me know if I hurt you."

"Its alright. I'm not made of glass you know."

"Yeah… but I still don't want to hurt you."

She smiled. "You're sweet, you know that?"

So much for keeping the blush down.

We worked in silence for a few minutes. She was concentrating on fishing the surprisingly small sliver of crystal out of her leg and I was concentrating on… well…

I guess it would be accurate to say that I was concentrating on her. I was acutely aware of every movement she made. I could feel the minute flexing of the muscles beneath my hand. I listened to her breathing and whenever I noted what sounded like a strain to her rhythm, I tried to maneuver to needle to a position that would be less likely to cause discomfort.

It took a little longer than I would have expected. I mean, I had gotten many splinters in my life, but never any in the meaty part of the thigh, just above the knee. It was as though her skin and muscle had just decided to grab the crystal and hold onto it for dear life. Every now and then she gave a throaty hiss in response to the pain.

I know that it was just a noise she made to let out some of the pressure that the whole procedure was generating, but on some level, the rush of her breath ghosting past my face made me acutely aware of how close I was to her. My hand on her leg to keep it from moving so much… my other arm resting across her knee, steadying the needle. My head was positioned right beside her shoulder and I caught myself glancing up every now and then to steal glances at her face.

There was something enthralling about watching her while she was concentrating on something else. The air of intensity that she possessed… amazing. Despite the fact that she was directing all this intensity to something so mundane as removing a splinter.

I always looked back down before she could catch me staring.

It was a strange feeling, this sudden lack of surety. This rush of uncertainty. I'm not used to that. I'm the confident one, most of the time, but for some reason I was having trouble marshalling my courage in the face of one of my best friends.

"So," I started, an attempt to fill up the silence that had descended upon us, "How was your day today? I didn't see you much after your late… uh.. breakfast."

I saw a grin cross her face. "Oh, nothing much happened. I ran into Finn after I left the kitchen. By the way, breakfast was awesome. Sometime, you're going to have to teach me how to make pancakes like that."

"Oh, well, I don't think so."

"Why not?" She asked indignantly. She took that instant to lift the crystal splinter from her leg and I pulled a bottle of disinfectant from the desktop. "More secrets you don't want to tell me or something?"

I winced. I hadn't meant it to come out that way… "No. Its not that."

She sighed and shook her head. "Whatever…"

I grimaced at the line I was about to use, but… well, it was true. "Well," I said conversationally, attempting to ignore the frown on her face, "If I don't show you how to make my special pancakes, then I'll be the only person who can make them for you. So they'll be special."

I busied myself with wrapping her leg with gauze. Doing so gave me an excuse to keep my head down and my eyes averted. It was a bit daunting, really, since she had gone pretty quiet after I had spoken.

I tied the ends off and stood. "Well.. I guess I'll go ahead and let you get to sleep since we're done…"

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her nod and she pushed herself up to a standing position. I had my eyes cast on the floor, so I could easily see her feet.

They were touching the floor.

"Hey! You aren't floating anymore!" I exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the fact that I was doing my best to avoid eye contact. I grinned and looked up at her. She had a smile on her face.

"Yeah," she said, "After Finn helped with the other splinter, we noticed that I wasn't floating as high. So it only makes sense that removing the last one would do the trick, for the most part."

"Oh, well… that's good. I'm glad Finn was such a help."

"Yeah… He's been really helpful these past few days. Its so weird. I mean, I never noticed before how much he can actually be a gentleman but he's really shown a different side lately. He's almost…" she cast about for a good word. "Almost… like he's become someone different. Charming."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh… well, I guess.. well, you're probably tired. I'll let you get to sleep."

I could feel her eyes on my back as I stood and approached the door. I paused for a moment there, with my hand hovering over the button.

I was about to walk right out of here without telling her about the bet, even though I had come into the room with every intention of doing so. I had just about talked myself completely out of it. Seriously, between the need to uphold my promise to Finn and the desperate wish to never be in the unfortunate position of explaining myself to her for participating in such a manipulative plot, I could walk straight out and make it to my own room without making a scene.

Besides, it was late. Did I really want to impose on her sleep time like that? It would probably turn into a long, drawn out discussion during which she would berate me and make me feel lower than low…

So, no reason to talk. Just leave.

But… I couldn't.

Then I had an idea. The rules only stated that we couldn't talk to her about the _wager. _It never said that I couldn't tell her… well, tell her what I thought about her…

I took a deep breath. Turned around. She was still standing there. The expression on her face was hard to define, but I suddenly got the feeling that somehow, either by some latent mental powers or an insane leap of feminine intuition…she knew something.

She just stood there.

"Uh… Piper?" I asked. My voice cracked slightly and I groaned inwardly. Way to start out, Aerrow. Good one.

"Yes?"

"Well… Um.. can I talk to you?"

She shrugged and sat down on her bed. "Sure. You know you can tell me anything."

I sighed. "That's kinda the problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Well… I don't know if I can tell you everything."

"Its that 'experiment' again, isn't it?" She sighed. "Look, I'm already coming to terms with it. I really don't care anymore. Its none of my business and it has nothing to do with me, really. So don't sweat it, okay? I'll stay out of your business."

"No!" I hurried to say, "Its just… its hard to tell you about it. I think you might actually be mad when we finally do let you in on it."

She turned and sat down on her bed. "Oh? I would ask you to explain, but I know you cant."

I groaned. "Well… what I want to talk to you about really doesn't have too much to do with the experiment…"

She shrugged, her arms crossed. "Okay. So talk, then."

I opened my mouth, but the words refused to come. After a moment, I grew tired of the fish impression and sighed. I shook my head.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "What's on your mind, Aerrow?"

"A lot…"

"So spit it out. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed for the first time in days." The harshness of her words was belied by the grin on her face. It was infectious and I just had to grin back. After a moment, though, my grin faded. "Ah… well, nevermind. You should get to sleep. I'll… uh… talk to you tomorrow."

"…okay."

Was it just me, or had she sounded somewhat disappointed?

No matter. I needed to get out of there.

Once again I moved over to her door with my hand out over the button to open the door. But as I pressed it, there was a distinct noise that echoed through the ship.

_Mmmm….vooooooo…._

I jumped in surprise as darkness enveloped me. The noise I heard snapped instantly into my memory. The power had gone out!

"Piper?" I asked into the darkness of her room.

"Yeah, I'm here. What happened?" I could hear her fumbling about from her bed. After a moment, I heard a dull thump of a fist smacking a wall and the swish of the blinds of her window opening up. The moonlight filtered though, providing illumination, but not much.

It bounced off of her skin in a distracting way.

"I have no idea what happened," I replied, mashing my finger against the door button. "Its like some of the life support circuits grounded out of something. Lets just hope that nothing else happens like this.."

Her eyes shone in the darkness. "Weird. I wonder how long you'll be stuck in here."

I shrugged helplessly. "Sorry… guess I should have left earlier when I said I would…"

"No big deal, I guess. If its affecting everyone, Stork will probably be able to figure something out. He's normally still in the bridge at this hour anyway, right? And even if he's not, I'm sure that we will be able to do something once it gets lighter outside."

"Yeah," I mumbled. It was really surprising how quick on the uptake that Piper tended to be. I mean, while I was sitting here wallowing in confusion, she had already made a plan with contingencies.

She continued to speak, as though I was fully capable of following her train of thought. "Anyhow… why don't you just make yourself comfortable or something?"

"Who knows?" I asked, "I bet the power could come on at any minute.

I could see her roll her eyes at my comment.

I sighed. "So… got any extra blankets?" I asked, moving to settle on her chair.

"One or two, I guess."

I pulled them out of the drawer she indicated for me, then did my best to make a comfortable pallet on the floor. "Well, if the lights come back on, I'll just head back on to my room." I settled myself down on the pallet but didn't lay down. I was a bit too wound up to sleep yet.

"…if that's what you want to do.. okay."

I cocked my head, unseen in the shadows. "What's that?"

I could see her shrug.

The room resumed its silence that had plagued this whole conversation.

I sat there, staring straight ahead at the wall, trying not to let the familiar feelings of guilt overtake me.

After a moment, I heard Piper's whisper.

"Aerrow?"

"Yeah?"

"I…" she stopped, then cleared her throat. "I have something I need to tell you."

"What's that?"

"You…" she tried, then sighed. "You're going to be mad."

"What? I doubt it."

I heard a sigh, and I could feel, rather than see, when she pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

She was quiet for a long moment. On an impulse, I climbed on to the bed next to her and sat cross legged on the comforter. Through the moonlight, I could see the dark shadows that turned her face into a rather breathtaking work of beauty.

Really. Piper isn't conventionally pretty. She has a something all her own that makes her absolutely beautiful… I have no idea what it is that causes this phenomenon.

I wanted to touch her face, but I held my hand back.

She sighed again, then turned her head slightly towards me. "Its about the experiment."

I frowned. "You know, I was just thinking about that too. I mean, I hate excluding you, Piper. If you want, I'll go ahead and tell you what it was… I mean, Finn'll be a bit upset but I am so tired of the secret…"

"No, no Aerrow. Its not that." She said with a tired voice.

"Then what could it be?"

She shifted her weight a bit, and much to my surprise, she scooted a little closer to me. When she settled once more, she was shoulder to shoulder with my and her left leg was gently touching my right. "Its complicated.. sorta.." she said in a low voice.

That voice threw a series of thrills up my spine. "Oh?" I managed.

"Yeah."

She got quiet again. I resisted the urge to fidget. I could tell from the irregularities in her breathing that she was attempting to find the words to say but was falling short. Finally, she ran a hand through her hair. "I'm not good at this."

By this time, I was thoroughly confused. "Um… any way I can help?"

I jumped when a weight came down on my arm before I realized it was her hand. She patted my arm awkwardly. "I wish you could. I just don't want you to be mad at me."

"Why would I be mad?" I asked.

"Well…" she sighed. "Let me… let me ask you a question."

"O-kay…"

"Aerrow…" she began again, "Uhm… well… you like to win, right?"

A chill ran through my spine. Such a weird question. "Yeah. You know me."

"That's the thing. I DO know you." She sighed again. I felt movement at my side. I looked down at her only to realize that she had twisted around so she was looking at me head on. "And… well… I was wondering…"

I was caught by her eyes. They glowed a molten brown in the moonlight. The expression on her face showed through the thick shadows that blanketed the entire room. Earnestness and nervousness. I didn't say a word, my gaze riveted on her face. I couldn't tell what she was up to, but I felt my pulse pick up a little.

"Well…" she continued in that stammering way, "Do you…"

She stopped again. "Do I what?" I managed to ask. I barely noticed that my voice was low and thick.

I was startled when I felt another warm presence, only this time it was her hand on the nape of my neck.

My cheeks flared.

She was only inches from me now. Her eyes burned into mine, radiating uncertainty and a strange sort of resolve that I had never seen in her face before. "Aerrow," she said again, "Do you want to win the wager?"

"I-" my mind screeched to a stop. "…_what?"_

She cringed and pulled her hand away as though she had been burned. "Okay, sorry. Just… ignore that. I'm sorry."

"No!" I protested, reaching out blindly to snag her hand again. Instead, my hand found its way to her waist.

That worked for me. I wasn't in any mood to be choosy.

I pulled her slightly closer to me. "I… I don't know how you knew about it.. but…" I was so glad that the darkness hid the furious crimson hue of my face, "I would love to win…"

Piper shyly reached out again. I could tell from the way she moved that she was hesitant. But she forced herself beyond the awkward hesitation.

Like some inexorable force, she drew me ever closer. In that moment, I caught a whiff of her unique scent that I liked so much… ink and paper.

And soon enough, I was engulfed by the sheer, swamping sensation of her soft, yet firm lips against mine. My mind marveled at how something so simple could send shockwaves reverberating through my body.

Almost of its own accord, my hand on her waist tightened and pulled her closer to me. My other arm found its way around her waist as well. I felt my eyes drifting shut as the kiss deepened.

All too soon, she pulled away. She rested a hand against my chest. I smiled in bemusement.

Bemused, but happy.

"Aerrow?"

"Hm?"

"Are you… mad?"

I was quiet for a good moment.

Was I mad? Well… I was going to tell her anyway… she had just beaten me to the punch, somehow.

"No… not really. I was planning on telling you. That's why I came here tonight in the first place."

She sighed in relief. "I'm glad you aren't mad…"

"But still…" I mused, "How _did_ you find out?"

"…long story." She replied, "and I don't want to get into it…"

"But-"

She silenced me with another kiss.

Now, that was just unfair.

OOO

OMG Rambling chapter. Sorry for that.

I'm glad to see this ending on a fairly happy note… I don't think this came out as good as it could have, but what can ya do? Its about 0330 and I have three more hours to kill while I'm on watch. Yayness.

Now, moving on. I hope you all are so kind as to review for this chapter…

By the way, this fic is not actually done. Notice that it is still listed as 'in progress'. It will be done by Friday, I think, since I have duty again that day. But this chapter IS the end. Hopefully this isn't too confusing…

I was going to update this, complete ending and all, all at once, but with the way things have been going for me lately I haven't really had the time. So…blah.

I will post the poll results when I get finished with the end of the fic. Thank you for your patience!

Speaking of polls... there's another one in my profile! Go vote!

I hope you enjoy!

By the way I am totally tired right now and I hope this all isn't too incoherent.

Review!


	21. The End again?

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE!**_

_**Due to popular demand (and my own desire to write it) this is an alternate ending!**_

**Finn**

I was surprised.

She had given me back the guitar strings and also given me the shard after refining it a little bit after my comment about making it into a pick. I was surprised, especially since I had meant it completely as a joke. But after I had helped finish up the lab clean up, she had disappeared for a few hours, leaving me to my own devices. I didn't really expect her to take me seriously about the shard and I was just happy to have the strings back in the first place. I had gone back to my room to amuse myself with restringing and tuning my guitar.

I was strumming quietly, for once, not following any real tune or song, when I heard a quiet knock on my door. I glanced at my clock. It was pretty late by this time. Close to midnight.

"Yeah," I called out, not really stopping the movement of my fingers on the strings. It felt so nice to finally have my rock machine back. Even though I had to be careful to keep from playing too loud at the moment. It wasn't so much that I was worried about waking everyone up. I just didn't really need Stork whining at me about how many ways you could die from getting insufficient sleep.

My door opened with a muted hum and Piper stepped into the room with a smile on her face. "Hey."

"Hm?" I looked up in surprise. "What's up? And… you aren't floating anymore?"

She had a giant smile on her face. "Yeah. I had another shard in my leg… and I figured that maybe if it was gone I could be normal again. It took me almost an hour to get out, too." She grimaced and pointed down at a bandage that was wrapped around her knee. I grimaced.

"You should have come asked for some help or something."

"It was no big deal," she said with a shrug, "I mean, I could see this one. Its not like it was on my shoulder like the last one. Speaking of which…" She held out the crystal shard that had come from her shoulder. It had been filed down and gently shaped to a perfect pick. It floated just above her fingers. I could see the vibrant pinkish-purple hues that reflected from the surface of the crystal dance slowly over Piper's features.

That… looked so cool.

I jumped up from my bed with a giant grin on my face. "Suh-weet!" I exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"

I reached out to take it but she closed her hand around it and pulled away in what was almost a playful manner. "Ah-ah," she reprimanded, holding her hand above her head.

"What?"

"I said you'd get your strings back. Never said you could have the guitar pick that you did nothing to earn."

"But you said that I could have that crystal!"

"Yeah, and I refined it into a pick. So if you _want _the pick, you'll have to earn it."

I frowned, feeling slightly deflated. "I already cleaned up your lab for you," I reminded her, "not to mention the fact that I pulled that crystal out of you in the first place. And its not my fault that you didn't come to me for help with the second splinter! So what am I suppose to do for you now? I mean, if I keep being so nice, I'm sure that Stork is going to end up putting me out of my misery for acting so out of character."

Piper laughed. "If you want the pick…" she let the threat hang in the air.

I will never understand women.

And I _did_ want that pick. How cool would that pick be? I mean, it _floats. _I don't remember anyone ever having a pick that floats. And besides, it would go to waste if I didn't use it. No one else here played the guitar…not that I knew of, anyway.

I squirmed for a moment, sitting back down on my bed with a grumpy noise. After a few moments of enduring her smug, satisfied look, I sighed. "Okay. What do you want?"

"Oh… I dunno." She replied. "Maybe I'll think of something later."

I watched in dismay as she pocketed the pick and turned to leave.

"Hey!" I cried, standing up again and letting the guitar lean up against the bed, "That's not right. You cant just come in here and show me that, then leave for no reason. No way!"

She looked over her shoulder at me and laughed. "What are you going to do about it?"

I growled, frustrated. "Well…"

She just smirked. That infuriating, superior smirk that she had probably perfected way back before she ever even met me.

"Well…" I repeated, knowing full well that I had no idea what to say next. I just didn't want to let her walk away with that pick. Who knows when I would see it again?

So I stood impotently in the center of the room, glaring daggers at the girl. She continued to face me with the serene expression of a person who knows she holds all the cards.

After a few minutes, she took pity on me. "Well… come to think of it, there _is _one thing that you have that I want… I am willing to trade."

"Oh, really?" I asked, wincing when a bit of my normal sarcasm sneaked into my voice. I didn't really need to come off a snarky right now. That pick was on the line.

She crossed her arms, letting one hand drift up to tap thoughtfully on her lips. "Yeah.. I do have something that you can help me with."

"Okay. Name it," I said with bravado.

"Anything?"

"Sure."

She smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"What?"

"That's I could choose anything in exchange for this pick. And you do mean anything, right?"

"That's what I said, right?" I replied, feeling the frustration starting to well up. I wanted that pick!

"Okay."

She wandered to the other side of my room. Her back was turned to me and since I knew she couldn't see, I allowed my eyes to trace over the delicate curve of her shoulder. She moved with a kind of light grace, I noted, and she didn't seem to be aware of the effect that she had on me. That was a good thing, really. The last thing I needed was Piper being weirded out by the fact that I was starting to see her as… well, cute, I guess.

I was distracted. That's my excuse. That's why I didn't realize at first that she had reached down to the surface of my desk and grabbed my notebook.

You know, the one I had been keeping my notes about the wager between Aerrow and I?

Yeah.

She snagged it, quicker than I would have given her credit for, and spun around to face me with a smug smile on her face. "Okay. Then here's our trade."

I was already up and across the room at the sight of that journal in her hands. When I reached for it, she dodged and leaned away, holding the journal far above her head and off to the side. "No way!" I hollered, making a grab for it, "You know you cant-"

"But you said I could pick anything!" Even though I towered over her, she managed to maneuver the book out of my reach.

"I didn't mean that and you know it!"

"Doesn't matter!" She danced and shimmied away from me, coming up short on the wall with her back pressed up against it. "You said anything!"

I lunged for the book again. "You know that book was off limits! Give it back!"

She laughed. The sound of that full throated laugh almost gave me cause to pause but I continued on, trying to wrench the book from her hands. I couldn't really understand why I was having trouble getting the book away from her. I mean, I have a longer reach than she does, after all.

It shouldn't have been this hard. She was even backed into the wall for crying out loud!

I grabbed one of her arms and held it down close to her side. Her other arm, the one holding the book, was still flailing off to the side. Something about the erratic way she was moving made it pretty hard for me to secure her free hand, and it took me several moments to get a good grip.

Every time I made a grab, she wrenched herself one way or another, sometimes throwing me off balance completely. By the time I finally did get a good grasp on her other wrist, we were both laughing in a muffled, snickering way, trying to keep the noise down since the rest of the squadron was probably still trying to rest.

It didn't take too long for me to catch my breath. She was looking up at me with laughing eyes. "Hey, you cant go back on your word. Give me the book."

"No."

"Why not? Come on, Finn, its not like letting me know what you guys are up to is really going to mess with your precious experiment."

"Actually, it would."

"Its not like it'll be the end of the world or anything if I see it!"

Right. Shows how much SHE knew. "I wouldn't be so sure," I mumbled.

We both subsided for a moment. I was a little lost in thought when all of a sudden I heard her clear her throat. I glanced down and realized that I was still holding on to her hands and had them pinned at her side. I was maybe six inches away from her and suddenly, the proximity was incredibly noticeable.

Her skin was so warm beneath my fingers.

I noted, idly, that she was a perfect height. The top of her head came to my chin. Funny how I never saw that before. Maybe I never noticed because she was floating so much lately?

Hmmm…

"Finn?"

I blinked. "Yeah?"

"Gonna let me go?"

"Gonna let me have my notebook back?" I countered. She grimaced.

"Is it really that important?"

"Yeah."

"Why does it matter if I know or not?"

"It just does."

"I'm starting to think its something that would embarrass you guys. Is that it?"

"….no."

"That didn't sound very convincing."

I shrugged and let her go, stepping back awkwardly. "So? Doesn't matter." I held out my hand for the book.

She spun around as soon as she was free and darted to the door. "Hey!" I called after her, "You little-"

At the moment right before her hand slapped down on the button to actuate my door, I heard a hollow sound accompanied by a staticy rush. The lights in my room powered down without warning and I heard her curse as she pounded her hand against the button. "Damnit!"

I laughed. "Well, if that aint perfect timing!"

"Finn, you idiot! The door wont open! What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie. There's no way that this all happened right _now _without you messing around with something."

I rolled my eyes, though the gesture probably went unnoticed in the darkness. "Right, Piper. Because I knew you were going to come to my room in the middle of the night and try to steal a notebook that you know is not for you to read."

I heard a huff, then a sigh. Then a clang as she apparently kicked the door. I smirked. "Looks like you wont be able to read my _personal _journal now anyway, huh?"

Somewhere from her direction, the notebook camp flying out me. Its went wide and hit the wall beside the bed. "You're an ass, Finn."

"Yeah, I know. Aerrow tells me that all the time nowadays."

"Well, its true."

I turned and felt my way back to my bed. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to get some sleep."

"What?"

I laid down and crossed my hands behind my head. "Yup. That's what most people do this late at night, in their rooms, with the lights out. Sleep."

She was quiet, then I heard unsteady footsteps as she moved around my room, the terrain apparently unfamiliar.

Ever now and again, I heard a slight bump, followed by either a growl or a curse. I listened to the magazines on my desk cascade onto the ground, followed by a quiet "Oops."

After a little while I took pity on her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find your chair or something. I'm not going to just stand there by your door until the lights come back on."

I chuckled. "Hang on, let me help you out."

She started to protest, but I was already out of the bed and I got a hold of her elbow. I guided her to the one chair that I had in my room and she sat down. "Thanks." She mumbled.

I shrugged, then realized she couldn't see. "No problem," I replied.

Silence followed. I remained standing where I was. For some weird reason… I suddenly was awash with uncertainty.

"Finn?" her voice cut through the dark, surprising me.

"Yeah?"

"Are you… well, that is…" she trailed off, before finding her words again. "Are you and Aerrow almost done with your experiment?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean by that?"

I gestured helplessly. "I mean I don't know."

"How can you not know?" she asked rationally. "I mean, an experiment should have some sort of timeline, right? Otherwise you'll never really know if its going to work. I mean, you need to be able to pin down a point where you'll have to call the experiment a failure."

I grimaced. "I don't want to do that."

"Why?"

"I dunno. Its kind of an important experiment."

"Really? Invested too much time into it?"

"Yeah… well, I kinda want it to work out."

She sighed again. "I'm almost hoping it wraps up soon. I'll have you know that the suspense is killing me."

"Killing you?" I laughed ruefully, "Lets just say that waiting for the results is on my mind a lot too."

I leaned back against the wall beside the chair. After a moment, I slid down the wall until I was sitting on my heels. I could hear the creak of the chair as she shifted around in it.

"You know," I said suddenly, "I kinda wish I could tell you."

"Why cant you?"

"Well… Aerrow and I agreed to keep it a secret between the two of us."

She was quiet for a minute, then, "Well… is there anything I can do to help?"

I barked a laugh. "Yeah… well, no, not really. That'd be against the rules."

"….oh."

I heard her shift around in the chair some more. She sounded uncomfortable.

I felt myself start to zone out. I was actually a little tired. It was pretty late at night…

"Hey, Finn?"

"Mmm?"

"What if…"

"What if what?"

"What if… what would you say if I already knew what the experiment was?"

That surprised a laugh out of me. "I'd probably be asking you why you hadn't killed me yet."

She chuckled weakly. "Hah. Funny. But just for the sake of argument, what would you do if I knew?"

"I'd be a little confused. Probably be trying to claw my way out of the room. I'm not allowed to tell you what the experiment is, but I _can _tell you that it is something that would probably piss you off. That's why I'm perfectly fine with letting Aerrow explain it to you. He's better at dodging the bullet than I am."

A sigh. Then, "Finn. I know about the wager."

My first reaction was to laugh but I managed to quell it down. "Wha-_what_?"

"I know about it."

"No way. There's no way. Aerrow wouldn't have told you."

She sighed again. "Shut up."

I was so surprised, I actually listened.

"Look. I know about it and I just wanted to ask you a question."

I was too dumbstruck to say anything to that. I heard her slide to the floor. My eyes, sharp as a hawk's during the day, could barely make out the shadowy details of her face as she settled herself in front of me. I could tell that she was looking me in the eye, or at least as close as she could approximate.

When she was certain that I was mute, she nodded abruptly. "Do you want to win the bet?"

Did I… did I want to win the bet?

My first impulse was to say yes. I mean, from the way she was acting, I could probably answer in the affirmative and win the damn thing right then and there. I mean, Piper had never been so open and easygoing with me before as she had been these past few hours. I mean, she wasn't even trying to murder me, and I was certain that once she found out about the wager it would have taken all of Aerrow's charisma and Junko's strength to keep her from fatally maiming me.

So when my mouth opened, with the word 'yes' riding the tip of my tongue, I almost said it… then I stopped.

I looked at her. Really looked at her. I did something I rarely ever do: I mentally put myself in her situation.

If some sort of thing like that had been centered around me, I would probably have thought it was pretty cool at first, but that's just the way I am. I mean, I thrive on the attention like that. I am always coming up with more schemes to get even more attention, good or bad. But Piper's not like me. Not by a long shot. So…

I bet she was probably a little hurt when she found out.

Probably angry. She probably wanted to kill me, or Aerrow, or even both of us.

So… I would probably do a good bit of harm if I told her yes. And really… right now, did I want to win the bet?

The bet was an agreement between Aerrow and I. I hadn't really thought out the ramifications of the whole thing when we had agreed to do it, but then again, I'm never really one for planning something out all the way to the end.

"I…" I stammered. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I…. well… no."

"No?" Piper asked. She sounded a little strangled when she said that. "Oh… okay. I see."

"Wait!" I said as she started to stand. I swung a hand out, blindly grabbing for her wrist.

"Finn, leave me alone, okay? Its bad enough that you were pursuing me without any real desire for… for anything!"

I tightened my grasp and tugged her down as she tried to stand again. "Its not like that!" I protested with a growl. "Would you shut up and let me say something?"

She was still but I could tell by the way she held herself that she was poised to jump away again if I so much as loosened my grip. "I don't want to win the bet anymore, Piper," I said. I paused. My stomach did flip flops in anticipation of what I was about to say next. "Well… you see… the bet's not important anymore."

She didn't say anything. I fumbled for something else to say to get my meaning across. "The important thing… well, I just…" I sighed. "I'm messing this up."

I felt a tug. She was trying to get her hand away from me. "Piper, please, just try to listen to me. I'm trying to explain. Ok?"

"Whatever, Finn."

I growled as she tried to distance herself again. I admit.. I lost my temper and I yanked her toward me.

She wasn't balanced well. I couldn't really see, but I definitely felt it when her small frame came flying into my chest when I pulled her too hard.

She flexed, trying to regain some sort of footing, but I was faster. I snagged her other hand with my own and pinned her in my lap. "Piper… look. I don't want to win any bets. I don't _care _about any bets. I'll admit that it all started out as a retarded idea to waste the time until we make it to the next mission, but now I don't care. I mean… well, I-"

"Finn, you don't have to explain anything. I was just curious, okay? No harm, no foul. Just let me go so I can leave when the power comes back online."

"No."

"What?"

"No." I said, a stupid smile on my face. "I don't want to."

"Finn… stop playing around."

"I'm… not."

"Finn…"

"Piper. I don't want to win the bet. Its… not about the bet anymore."

"Then what it is about?"

"I…"

I was at a stand still. I couldn't find the words, but I couldn't find the courage within me to do anything. I had her right there in my arms. Now what?

She had stilled. I could tell that she had her head turned towards me expectantly.

"Piper…" I mumbled in a low voice, hesitantly. Then, in a rushed jumble of words, "Would-you-mind-if-I…"

"If you what?" Her voice was low. Soft.

It made me shiver. Such a voice she had…

"If I… Uh… damn it."

"What-" whatever she was going to say was cut off when I snaked in quickly and clumsily mashed my lips to hers. I jumped back almost before our lips had touched, cringing.

"Sorry Piper. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done tha-"

"Finn."

"I'll forget it if you do. No need t-"

"Finn."

"I-"

"Finn!" She finally broke through my babble. "Its okay!"

"Huh?"

There was warmth around my neck as one of her hands felt its way there. She tugged my head gently down. She sounded almost as nervous as I felt. "Its okay Finn."

"It… it is?"

"Yeah."

I sat there dumbfounded yet again. "This is weird."

She pulled my head down at that comment. We were both inexperienced, but I can tell you that I will probably carry that experience throughout the rest of my life. She had soft lips. Firm. Warm. She tasted like honey. I said so after she let me breath again.

I could almost sense the smile on her face. "Wait a minute…" I mumbled, though my mind was still reeling from the surprise kiss. "How did you find out about everything?"

She laughed. "Like I'd tell you."

OOO

Okay. Ending number two. Again, I'm not terribly happy with because my muse left me all alone for some reason. So I'm sorry if it sucks…

Anyhow, I have one more entry for this fic. It wont be long, and hopefully will be up tomorrow afternoon at the latest. I could work on it now, but for some reason I feel like working on either Conversations or Broken. So nyah.

Anyway, please review if you enjoyed it. And if you didn't. I like reviews, makes me better.

Oh, and vote in my profile poll. So far, it looks like you evil, evil people want me to do another fic like this one where you choose the events in each chapter, and while I actually have an idea for it, I wont be starting it for at least a few weeks since I am getting ready to move in about a week and a half.

Thanks for reading! Almost done!


	22. Option Three!

**Author's Note: This is another alternate ending. This is a 'just because I felt like it' ending.**

**And also, this is the mysterious 'Option Three'.**

**Enjoy.**

"Aerrow. Hey! Aerrow! Hello?"

Aerrow opened his eyes, blinking wildly for a moment before his blurry vision finally coalesced into Finn's face. The blond was currently engaged in alternately poking Aerrow in the shoulder and shaking his arm. He was a little too close for comfort.

Aerrow leaned away from Finn, his face screwing up in confusion. "Wha…? Huh?"

Finn moved back with a huffy sigh. "Dude. You are so rude."

"Huh?"

"I'm sitting here talking to you and you just fall asleep? What's up with that? I am _so bored."_

Aerrow shook his head. He glanced down to where his hands were folded in his lap. There was a book there… it was one Piper had given him to read. 'Tactical observations on the Cyclonian skirmish parties'.

He blinked again, then focused his attention on what Finn was saying. For some reason… It felt as though he'd seen it all before.

Weird.

Finn was complaining. Again. Apparently he was bored… and the trip had only just started! Aerrow forced himself to keep his bleary gaze on the sniper as attentively as he could.

"…I am sooooo bored."

"So… go listen to your radio or something." Aerrow frowned. "Wow… deja-vu."

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Man, Aerrow, I already listened to my radio. For four hours!"

"Uh-huh…" Aerrow forced his eyes back to the words on the page in front of him. It _was _interesting… but so very dry. But he wanted to read it to bone up on what he and the squadron may be facing when they finally arrived at the next mission. "So… go play your guitar or something… Quietly…"

"Nah. Piper took the strings and I can't find them."

"Don't know what to tell you. Its only been a couple days since we left Atmosia… you do know we wont reach our next destination for a week or three, right?"

Finn made an inarticulate sound of frustration, which Aerrow ignored in favor of trying to read Piper's book. But Finn, being Finn, could never stay quiet for long.

"What'cha reading?"

"Tactical observations on the Cyclonian skirmish parties."

Finn huffed. "Booooring."

Aerrow found himself replying to this with words that seemed… really familiar. "Eh.. not really. Piper recommended it. Maybe she could find something for you to do too. She has a pretty good library." He paused and scratched his head.

Strange. Something just felt weird about this whole conversation.

"Pass," he heard Finn mutter shortly. Then there was a few minutes of silence. Aerrow could feel himself nodding off again in the lull...

"I'm going for a ride." Finn's voice jerked Aerrow out of his stupor.

"You know we have to conserve fuel, Finn." Aerrow replied, keeping his nose in the book so that Finn wouldn't see how close he was to falling asleep again. He stifled a yawn.

The sound of his friend dropping back into the chair made him grimace. He wouldn't have a moment of peace until Finn's hyperactive tendencies found an outlet. After a few moments of letting the sniper stew in his own thoughts, Aerrow marked his book and laid it down carefully before twisted his spine. When he felt the bone jarring cracks erupt down his back, he sighed in satisfaction before turning back to Finn.

So, no radio and no guitar."

Finn nodded morosely.

"Read a book?"

"Yuck."

"Chores?"

"Already done."

"Clean your skimmer?"

"I haven't even ridden it in three days."

"Hmm… I dunno what to tell you." Aerrow sat back with a half-smile. "I'm sure you can think of something to entertain yourself. Just make sure its not too destructive."

In the pause that followed, Aerrow felt a cold chill worm its way up his spine for some reason. It was the same feeling he got whenever something bad was going to happen…

…And in the course of his short career as a sky knight, he had learned to pay attention to those gut feelings. It normally heralded a danger or risky situation. Something to avoid at all costs. Usually, it paid off.

So when Finn's face lit up with a devious smile, Aerrow held up his hand, cutting him off before he could even begin to speak.

"You know what, Finn? I think we have enough extra fuel crystals for you to go off for a while and ride."

"But Aerrow, I just got this killer idea!"

"No."

"But-"

"No, Finn. Just go for your ride."

Finn scowled at Aerrow, but shook his head and left the room, heading for the hangar. Aerrow watched him go, mix feelings churning in his belly.

He had the very intense feeling that he had just avoided a disaster…but he couldn't really understand why.

OOO

Ta-da!

It was all a dream… all a dream…

Lame, I know, but this story was begging for a cliché. So here it is!

I hope this wasn't too fast. It only came out to about 750 words.

Anyway, this is it. Finally. Please review. Critique me! Tell me what I did good or bad!

And thanks for such faithful readership through this mess of a fic. It warms me to know that people enjoy my work. Maybe one day I'll get around to finishing my own novel…

I dunno, though. I need concrit on it, bad. Anyone interested in starting up a writer's group? Hehe.

Thanks foir reading. I am hoping to update Conversations and Broken at least once before I move.


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